5.5 magnitude earthquake hits Peru's Andes region and kills at least 6 people

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LIMA, Peru (AP) — A 5.5 magnitude earthquake shook the Andes region of Peru, killing at least six people, injuring more than 30 and displacing 300, authorities said Sunday.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake struck on Saturday at 9:24 p.m., with its epicenter located 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) west-southwest of the city of Sicaya in Huancayo province. It was 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) deep.

Peru’s National Civil Defense Institute said in a statement the total number of missing is still unknown. Several buildings collapsed or suffered structural damage, including the historic “Santiago de León” church and former convent in Chongos Bajo, which was built in 1565 and designated as national heritage site for being a 16th century “architectural gem.”

Luis Vásquez, head of the local civil defense office, told journalists that the use of rustic adobe materials in construction in that Andean area “has contributed to the greater impact and damage."

Earthquakes are frequent in Peru, which is located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

Images broadcast by local media captured the anguish of victims’ relatives in one of the hardest-hit areas, the agricultural region of Chongos Bajo, where residents huddled under blankets outside severely damaged homes. Animals were also seen under the rubble.

“My home has been destroyed,” Hermenegilda Guamalato told a local radio station as she sought a place to stay with her three children in the neighboring province of Huayucachi.

In 2007, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the province of Pisco in the Ica region, killing nearly 600 people.