On Monday (August 15), rescuers in Peru are looking for additional victims one day after a 5.3 magnitude earthquake killed at least four people, including a U.S. tourist, and injured dozens late on Sunday.
The quake struck just 8 kilometers (5 miles) deep in the Caylloma province of the Andean region Arequipa and at least five aftershocks shook the region anew on Monday, the Geophysical Institute of Peru said. The USGS reported the earthquake as having a 5.4 magnitude.
National Civil Defense Institute (Indeci) personnel were clearing roads to reach the affected area, a copper-producing region popular with trekkers.
Hundreds of houses, many made of adobe, collapsed, some crushing victims as they slept.
A woman and her granddaughter were killed when the late night earthquake brought the wall of this adobe house down on their beds.
"That is where they were sleeping," said a relative. "It is her sister who died. That is where she was sleeping and this is where the grandmother was sleeping. (Journalists asks: 'Did the earthquake happen all of a sudden?' Man responds:) Yes, the rocks were very big and they fell all of a sudden."
The tremor downed electrical distribution and phone lines in several towns, Indeci said. Irrigation canals, health clinics, schools and highways were also damaged.
Emergency personnel transported victims to local hospitals via ambulances and helicopters.
This woman's daughter was injured in the incident.
"There were bricks everywhere. I couldn't count them. After that, I grabbed my daughter, went out the door, and I stopped, fainted, I couldn't anymore.' (Journalist asks: 'Your daughter fainted?' Woman responds:) Yes, yes," she answered.
Defense minister Mariano Gonzalez travelled to the area.
Indeci said local authorities were setting up tents in town squares and soup kitchens to help families left homeless and state news agency Andina reported President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski prepared to declare an emergency in the region.
The Caylloma province is home to Peru's Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world and a draw for trekkers.
The quake struck a day before the ninth anniversary of a 2007 earthquake in Peru that killed hundreds in the region of Ica.
Earthquakes are common in Peru, but many homes are built with precarious materials that cannot withstand them.
