To: goldsheet who wrote (71039 ) 6/23/2001 9:54:03 PM From: long-gone Respond to of 116759 Any figure it slowed / screwed up any mine production? Sunday, 24 June, 2001, 00:32 GMT 01:32 UK Quake rocks Peru People rushed into the street in panic A strong earthquake lasting more than a minute has hit southern Peru. Officials say at least 26 people are dead and dozens have been injured. This earthquake may have caused substantial damage and casualties due to its location and size US National Earthquake Centre The quake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck about 600km south-east of the Peruvian capital Lima at 1533 local time (2033 GMT) and sent residents fleeing from their homes in panic. Officials said 12 people had died in the country's second city, Arequipa - 750 km southeast of Lima - while another 14 had been killed in Moquegua. A number of buildings were damaged in the second city, including part of the cathedral. Electricity and phone lines were cut in many places. Arequipa's mayor, Juan Manuel Guillen, said a state of emergency had been declared. Experts in the United States said the earthquake had its epicentre in the Pacific Ocean close to the Peruvian coast. At least 15 aftershocks were reported. Peru's civil defence chief, Juan Luis Podesta, told local radio that dozens of adobe homes in Arequipa and the southern city of Tacna, near the border with Chile, were destroyed. He said in one neighbourhood of Arequipa alone, 47 houses had fallen. Several people were also injured in the Chilean port city of Arica, close to the Peruvian border. The quake was also felt in Bolivia. Peru was battered by a strong 7.7 magnitude tremor in 1970 that killed approximately 70,000 people. news.bbc.co.uk