The CNAT alert was posted by the Hydrography and Navigation Directorate of the Peruvian Navy on social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to Peru’s Geophysical Institute, the quake struck at a depth of 42 kilometers and an epicenter 54 kilometers southwest of the coastal district of Yauga, where two earthquakes of magnitude 5.7 and 5 struck last Saturday.
Today’s earthquake had a VI intensity on the Mercalli scale, meaning it was felt “strongly” by residents of Arequipa, Peru’s second most populous city.
The modified Mercalli scale measures “degrees of intensity and associated interpretation.”
According to information on the website of the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere, an earthquake with an intensity of VI on the modified Mercali scale can cause “plates, dishes, window panes, mirrors to break”, “decorative items, books, etc. shelves”, “pictures fall from walls”, “furniture moves or are falling” and “weak stucco and Type D masonry cracking”.
Although the quake was mild, it was also felt in Lima, the country’s capital, where a third of Peruvians live.
Faced with this situation, in Peru’s Presidency Social Network X, the executive said, together with the National Civil Defense Agency, “carries out the relevant monitoring to assess the damage and determine the measures to be taken”.
Peru is located in a region known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, where more than 80% of the world’s seismic activity occurs.
In August 2007, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck the coastal city of Pisco and the entire southern part of Ica, killing more than 500 people and causing millions of euros worth of damage to infrastructure and facilities.
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