Photo: USGS
A 6.0-magnitude earthquake was reported in Peru on Wednesday (April 1), according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was reported 27 kilometers (about 16.8 miles) east-southeast of Picota and centered at a depth of 108.8 kilometers (about 68 miles) at 11:20 a.m. UTC. The USGS said it received 13 reports of people having felt the earthquake at the time of publication on Wednesday.
There are currently no tsunami warnings, according to Tsunami.gov, and no aftershocks initially reported in Peru on Wednesday. The 6.0-magnitude earthquake is the largest reported in Picota this month among two reported in the last 30 days and 13 reported in the last 365 days measuring at 1.5 magnitude or greater, according to EarthquakeTrack.com.
Wednesday's earthquake is also the largest in Peru during the past month, which has seen three in the past seven days, 16 in the past 30 days and 208 in the past 365 days, according to EarthquakeTrack.com. Earthquakes measured between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude can be felt by a large population, however, rarely results in much damage, according to Michigan Tech via the Sacramento Bee.
An estimated 500,000 detectable earthquakes are reported worldwide annually, however, around 100,000 are felt and only 100 typically result in serious damage. Officials strongly advise that anyone caught in an earthquake should drop, cover and hold on, according to the Sacramento Bee.