Peru Earthquake Shakes Buildings in Capital of Lima

A moderate earthquake shook buildings in Peru's capital on Tuesday but there were no reported injuries or damage, Reuters witnesses and safety officials said.

Peru's geological survey recorded a 5.6 magnitude quake, while the USGS said it measured 4.6 and was centered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean about 35 kilometers (21 miles) west of Lima.

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Quakes are frequent in Peru, with about 170 felt by people annually, according to the country's Geophysical Institute. The same collision of tectonic plates responsible for the most powerful quake ever recorded, a magnitude-9.5 quake that hit Chile in 1960, occurs just off Lima's coast, where about 3 inches of oceanic crust slides annually beneath the continent.

A 7.5-magnitude quake in 1974 a day's drive from Lima in the Cordillera Blanca range killed about 70,000 people as landslides buried villages. Seventy-eight people died in the capital. In 2007, a 7.9-magnitude quake struck even closer, killing 596 people in the south-central coastal city of Pisco.