A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Peru during the night of Saturday, July 18, leaving six dead and 21 injured. This, according to the latest report from the National Institute of Civil Defense (Indeci).
The emergency occurred at 21:24 Peru time, with the epicenter in the district of Chongos Bajo, in the province of Chupaca, located in the Department of Junín.
The tremor occurred at a depth of 24 km and caused damage to infrastructures and collapses in homes.
About 20 minutes after the seismic movement, a magnitude 3.7 aftershock shook the department of Junín again, with an epicenter 14 km southwest of Chupaca.
Keiko Fujimori, who will assume the Peruvian presidency on July 28, expressed her condolences to the families of the victims.
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“I salute the actions of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and urge the Government to continue deploying all efforts and to adopt the immediate measures necessary to protect the population, assist those affected, and provide timely support to the affected families,” said the leader of the Popular Force party on her X account.
The Peruvian Ministry of the Interior reported that the National Police maintains deployed actions of search, care, security, and rescue. More than 250 personnel from specialized units and over 50 members of the General Volunteer Firefighters Corps have mobilized to combat the emergency.
“Response teams continue carrying out search and rescue operations, debris removal, evacuation of affected people, pre-hospital care, and support to the population in the most impacted areas,” the ministry stated.
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