Magnitude 6 Quake Strikes Southern Peru

The epicenter of the quake was located 33 miles (53 km) north-northwest of Arequipa.

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake rattled southern Peru early on Tuesday, startling residents in the Andean country's second-largest city, Arequipa, who ran out of their homes into the streets.

The epicenter of the quake was located 33 miles (53 km) north-northwest of Arequipa, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was recorded at a depth of 46 miles (74 km).

Peru's police and civil defense agency said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but magnitude 6 quakes are capable of causing severe damage.

Witnesses said people refused to go back into their homes after the quake, fearing structures might collapse in an aftershock.

Dirt tumbled onto sections of Peru's coastal highway, and the quake was felt in the southern provinces of Moquegua and Tacna, officials said. The temblor was also felt in mineral-rich northern Chile, where the country's emergency management office said no injuries or damages were reported.

Carlos Nacarino, district chief of Peru's civil defense agency, said the epicenter was in an unpopulated area. Still, there were reports of isolated power outages.

Peru's third-largest copper mine, the Cerro Verde complex of Freeport-McMoRan, is near the city of Arequipa, and Southern Copper has a mine and smelter in the neighboring Moquegua province.

Freeport said its mine was not damaged by the quake.

"We have had no impact, no injuries. Everything is fine," a Freeport spokesman said.

Officials at Southern Copper, which sits farther away from the quake zone, also said its operations were fine following the quake.

"Everything has continued operating," Mauricio Pero, Southern's head operations in Peru, told Reuters.

Arequipa lies about 445 miles (720 km) southeast of Lima, the capital. The historic center of the city was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.