7.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Peru, tsunami warning issued
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the coast of Peru early Friday morning and was felt as far away as the capital Lima, about 600 miles away, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake struck about a mile off the coast of Peru’s Arequipa region at 12:36 a.m. local time. USGS said. Peruvian authorities have issued one Tsunami warning on the country’s coast and warned that waves could reach the town of Puerto Atico before 12:52 a.m. local time.
After the earthquake, videos on social media showed furniture and security cameras shaking for nearly 30 seconds, as far away as Lima.
Peru’s National Seismological Center said aftershocks of magnitude 4.2 and 4.0 were also recorded off the coast of Arequipa.
Peru sits on a plate boundary that stretches along the west coast of South America. The world’s most powerful earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 9.6 quake along that boundary in Chile in 1960, the USGS said.