The American Geological Survey (USGS) for its part estimated the magnitude of the earthquake at 7.2.
The earthquake, with a depth of 42 kilometers, occurred around 12:36 a.m. (05:36 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean eight kilometers from the coast of Caraveli, 780 km south of Lima.
Eight people were injured, the Peruvian Ministry of Health said on X.
Walls collapsed in the southern town of Yauca, its mayor, Juan Aranguren, told media. The earthquake also caused cracks on a highway in the region, he added.
The Peruvian authorities lifted the tsunami alert issued a few minutes after the earthquake by the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation of the Navy.
Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen sought to be reassuring, declaring on RPP radio: “The earthquake has passed, we are currently carrying out the first assessments and so far there have been no deaths to deplore.”
“We have ruled out any tsunami warning,” he added.
It was a preventive measure because the epicenter of the earthquake was at sea, explained the director of the IGP, Hernando Tavera.
He spoke of a “fairly intense movement of the ground which pushed the population to leave their homes”.
The earthquake was felt as far away as the capital Lima and across much of Peru’s southern and central coast. Its epicenter was about 40 kilometers from Chala, a town of about 10,000 people.
The Civil Defense and the government have mobilized their emergency planes to assess the damage.
Peru, with a population of about 33 million, is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a vast area of seismic activity that stretches along the western coast of the American continent. The country is shaken by hundreds of perceptible earthquakes each year.
