Earthquake of magnitude 7.0 strikes southeastern Peru, says US Geological Survey

Washington: An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck southeastern Peru on Friday, the US Geological Survey said.

The epicenter of the quake was at a depth of 257 kilometers (160 miles). The agency said most big quakes in South America occur at a depth of 70 kilometers or higher.

In February, a deep magnitude-7.5 earthquake struck the Peru-Ecuador border region causing tremors the Ecuadorian president said were felt around the country.

That quake’s epicentre was in a sparsely populated area 224 kilometres (140 miles) east-southeast of Ambato, Ecuador, at a depth of 132 kilometres. The USGS’s initial reading assessed the quake, which occurred at 5:17 am local time (1017 GMT), at magnitude 7.7.