At least five people have lost their lives this Sunday in the southwest of Peru after a preliminary magnitude 5.1 earthquake that has shaken the region of Junín with particular intensity, according to the first figures provided by the director of the National Institute of Civil Defense, Luis Vásquez, to the official news agency Andina.
The fatalities all belong to the municipality of Chongos Bajo, currently under a state of emergency due to the earthquake recorded at 21:24 hours on Saturday, local time, with the epicenter located seven kilometers south of Chupaca and a hypocenter located 24 kilometers deep, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP).
The tremor has caused the collapse of several buildings and the exact number of injured and trapped people is still unknown, according to national media. Power outages have also occurred in different areas of Huancayo, Chupaca, and nearby municipalities, while the impact of low temperatures is concerning: in the midst of the austral winter, the nighttime temperature in Junín hovers around 4ºC.
The Ministry of Health of Peru has indicated that the El Carmen Regional Maternal-Child Hospital presents structural cracks in the pediatric intensive care unit, and that the Daniel Alcides Carrión National Hospital has also suffered damage.
For its part, the Ministry of Energy and Mines has reported that more than 35,000 users remain without electricity in the regions of Junín and Huancavelica, a figure already below the more than 61,000 affected initially.
Peru is frequently hit by seismic movements due to the convergence of several tectonic plates. The country, along with Chile and Ecuador, is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the area with the highest seismic activity on the planet.