6.0-magnitude quake hits Peru

A strong magnitude 6 earthquake struck Lima and other Peru's central coast areas on Tuesday evening, without immediate damage or casualties, the National Seismological Center said.

The earthquake, which had initially been evaluated at a magnitude of 5.8, occurred at 9:54 p.m. local (Wednesday 2:54 a.m. GMT), with an epicenter of 32 kilometers deep and at a distance of 33 kilometers to the southwest of Mala, a coastal town itself located about a hundred kilometers south of the Peruvian capital. The hydrographic service has ruled out any risk of a tsunami.

Peru is rattled by dozens of earthquakes of varying strength each year as it is located in the Pacific ring of fire, a particularly seismically active region where the Earth's tectonic plates collide.

A 7.9 magnitude earthquake on August 15, 2007, killed 595 people in Peru.