At Least 6 dead & 21 injured after 2 earthquakes in Peru

LIMA (Reuters) - At least six people were killed and 21 injured after two earthquakes struck a mountainous region of Peru, the country's civil defence chief said on Sunday 19 July 2026.

The quakes, measuring magnitudes 5.1 and 3.7, hit during the night on Saturday 18 July 2026 in Chupaca province in the Junín region, about 300 km east of Lima, according to Peru's National Seismological Centre post on X.

The first quake struck at a depth of 24 km and the second at 18 km, the centre said.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre earlier reported that the first earthquake had a magnitude of 5.6.

Luis Vásquez, head of Peru's National Civil Defence Institute, told local radio station Exitosa that preliminary reports showed about 48 homes had been destroyed and another eighteen damaged, affecting around 300 people who are being provided with tents.

Homes in the affected communities in Chupaca are generally rudimentary structures built from adobe blocks.

Vásquez said emergency crews and firefighters arrived in the affected areas early on Sunday to clear debris amid concerns that additional victims could be trapped.

Peru lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone that accounts for roughly 85% of the world's seismic activity.