Posted on 08/16/2007 1:34:14 AM PDT by bd476
LIMA, Peru — A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital, toppling buildings, setting off landslides and killing at least 115 people and injuring over a thousand others, Deputy Health Minister Jose Calderon said Thursday.
Speaking on television and radio, Calderon called the situation "dramatic" in Ica, a city of 650,000 people 165 miles southeast of the capital.
He encouraged Peruvians to donate blood for the injured and said a convoy of doctors and nurses was headed to the Ica area. News reports said dozens of people were crowding hospitals in the city seeking help even though the hospitals had suffered cracks and other structural damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit at 6:40 p.m. (7:40 p.m. EDT) about 90 miles southeast of Lima at a depth of about 25 miles. Four strong aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 5.4 to 5.9 were felt afterward.
Several hours later, President Alan Garcia said in a nationwide broadcast that it apparently had not caused a catastrophe.
"Thank you God Almighty, these terrible quakes did not cause a high death toll like in other years," he said.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. A tsunami watch was issued for the rest of Central America and Mexico and an advisory for Hawaii.
The center canceled all the alerts after about two hours, but it said the quake had caused an estimated 10-inch tsunami near the epicenter.
"It wasn't big enough to be destructive," said Stuart Weinstein, the center's assistant director.
An Associated Press photographer said that some homes had collapsed in the center of Lima and that many...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Yikes...
Prayers for the good people of Peru.
I have no HTML skills (copy/paste below) did this 7.7 get upgraded?
Magnitude 8.0 - NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL PERU
2007 August 15 23:40:56 UTC
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007gbcv.php
Thank you for the ping! I have goose bumps just at the thought of a 8.0 any where! May God have Mercy!
Yup. Latest numbers have it upgraded to an 8.0
That makes it a “great earthquake”.
5.4 in Bolivia
6.6 now on the mid-Atlantic ridge not far from Chavez’s oilfields
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.