Post by ۞Quaalude™۞ on Aug 15, 2007 23:44:45 GMT -5
An earthquake measuring 7.9 has hit Peru, centred 160km (100 miles) from the capital, Lima, the US Geological Survey reports.
Some houses collapsed, and power supplies and phone lines were cut.
Reports say at least 415 people were killed when a building collapsed in the town of Ica, south of the capital. Seventy others were injured.
A tsunami alert issued earlier for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia has been withdrawn.
Barry Hirshorn, of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, told the BBC that there had been no evidence of a tsunami:
"Because we've now looked at a number of water-gauges where we should have seen a tsunami by now which have no information on them, we're going to cancel."
'Violent shaking'
An Associated Press photographer said that homes had collapsed in the centre of Lima. Witnesses reported hundreds of residents running into the streets, after the tremors were felt at 1840 (2340 GMT).
"I heard quite violent shaking, books falling off the bookcase, lampshade falling over and pictures falling off the wall, and I went to the safe-zone by the lift," said the BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima. Fortunately I live in a building which has been specially built to deal with earthquakes and tremors, which are quite common in Lima and around Peru.
"But in other parts of Lima, where the buildings are often of very poor quality, there will have been considerable damage, I would imagine."
Lima resident Cristyane Marusiak told Reuters news agency: "People here are hugging and crying in fear on the streets."
The US Geological Survey at first said there were two earthquakes within minutes of each other but later amended its reports to show that one quake struck at a depth of around 25 miles (40 km) below the earth's surface. QC
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6948888.stm
Some houses collapsed, and power supplies and phone lines were cut.
Reports say at least 415 people were killed when a building collapsed in the town of Ica, south of the capital. Seventy others were injured.
A tsunami alert issued earlier for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia has been withdrawn.
Barry Hirshorn, of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii, told the BBC that there had been no evidence of a tsunami:
"Because we've now looked at a number of water-gauges where we should have seen a tsunami by now which have no information on them, we're going to cancel."
'Violent shaking'
An Associated Press photographer said that homes had collapsed in the centre of Lima. Witnesses reported hundreds of residents running into the streets, after the tremors were felt at 1840 (2340 GMT).
"I heard quite violent shaking, books falling off the bookcase, lampshade falling over and pictures falling off the wall, and I went to the safe-zone by the lift," said the BBC's Dan Collyns in Lima. Fortunately I live in a building which has been specially built to deal with earthquakes and tremors, which are quite common in Lima and around Peru.
"But in other parts of Lima, where the buildings are often of very poor quality, there will have been considerable damage, I would imagine."
Lima resident Cristyane Marusiak told Reuters news agency: "People here are hugging and crying in fear on the streets."
The US Geological Survey at first said there were two earthquakes within minutes of each other but later amended its reports to show that one quake struck at a depth of around 25 miles (40 km) below the earth's surface. QC
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6948888.stm