At least 6 dead, 21 injured after 2 earthquakes hit Peru

At least six people were killed and 21 injured after two earthquakes struck a mountainous region of Peru, the country’s civil defence chief said ‌on Sunday.

The earthquakes, measuring magnitudes 5.1 and 3.7, hit on Saturday night in Chupaca province in the Junin region, about 300km (186 miles) east of Lima, according to Peru’s National Seismological Centre post on social media.

The ⁠first earthquake struck at a depth of 24km (15 ‌miles) and the second at 18km, the centre said.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre earlier reported that ‌the first earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6.

Luis ⁠Vasquez, head ⁠of Peru’s National Civil Defence Institute, told local radio station Exitosa that ‌preliminary reports showed about 48 homes had been destroyed and another 18 damaged, affecting ‌around ‌300 people who are being provided with tents.

Homes in ‌the affected communities in Chupaca are generally rudimentary structures built ⁠from adobe blocks.