Peru quake kills five and leaves 300 homeless, officials say

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake in Peru's Andes region killed five people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday. The Geophysics Institute of Peru said the tremor struck on Saturday night and shook Chongos Bajo, about 300 kilometers, or 180 miles, east of Lima. The institute said the epicenter was 24 kilometers, or 15 miles, deep.

An unnamed resident of Chongos Bajo told the N television network that the earthquake destroyed their home and that many adobe houses in the area collapsed.

General Luis Vasquez, director of the National Civil Defense Institute, said some towns suffered significant damage because the epicenter was shallow and many homes in the area were built from adobe or from a wood, cane and mud mixture known as quincha. He said 48 houses were destroyed and 300 people were left homeless.

Peru is on the Pacific ring of fire, an area of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin. Seismologists say Peru has at least 400 earthquakes each year, about three quarters of which are too weak for people to feel.