Strong earthquake hits Peru

September 30th, 2009 A massive earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 has reportedly struck the region of Western Indonesia on Wednesday thereby causing serious damage to the properties. According to the US Geological Survey, the quake was recorded to have struck at about 33 miles from the city of Padang.

September 8th, 2009 US gives ex-general's money back to PeruMIAMI — The U.S. has returned more than $750,000 to Peru in funds confiscated from the accounts of an ex-Peruvian general convicted of embezzlement and other crimes.

August 16th, 2009 Protest in Peru over slow recovery from 2007 quakeLIMA, Peru — Residents of a city destroyed by an earthquake in southern Peru two years ago protested Saturday over the slow pace of reconstruction, and police fired tear gas after the demonstrators blocked an important bridge. Some 4,000 people in Pisco blocked the Huamani bridge for four hours, disrupting traffic on the main route linking the south with the national capital, Lima.

July 12th, 2009 Magnitude 5.3 earthquake hits southern PeruLIMA, Peru — An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 has struck southern Peru. The country's seismic institute says there are no immediate reports of damage or injury.

July 3rd, 2009 Peru bus collision kills 23 near Lake TiticacaLIMA, Peru — Two buses crashed head-on Thursday on a mountain road near Lake Titicaca in Peru, killing at least 23 people and injuring 50 more, police said. The morning crash occurred in the Santa Lucia district, about an hour's drive from Lake Titicaca high in the Andes, a Puno state highway police officer told The Associated Press by phone.

July 1st, 2009 LIMA - At least 20 people, including several children, were killed in eastern Peru when two passenger boats crashed on the Ucayali River Tuesday, authorities said. The accident occurred close to San Jose de Pacache, a small town in Peru's Amazon rainforest, the port captain in departmental capital Pucallpa told media.

May 6th, 2009 US citizen Berenson, imprisoned in Peru, has sonLIMA, Peru — The parents of New Yorker Lori Berenson say she has given birth to a baby boy while serving a 20-year sentence in Peru for collaborating with leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. The 39-year-old is married to ex-Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement member Anibal Apari, whom she met in jail.

May 4th, 2009 GUATEMALA CITY - A strong earthquake rattled Guatemala Sunday, with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, but there were no reports of injuries or damage. The earthquake struck at a depth of 104 km and took place about 68 km west of Guatemala City, the US Geological Survey reported.

April 30th, 2009 LIMA - Peru suspended from Thursday all flights to and from Mexico over the ongoing flu epidemic, in a decision that Prime Minister Yehude Simon described as 'painful but necessary'. 'We have the right to protect the country,' Simon noted.

April 6th, 2009 ROME - A powerful earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale struck central Italy early Monday. According to the ANSA news agency, the quake was reportedly felt in Rome and central Italy.

March 22nd, 2009 WELLINGTON - An earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale shook much of New Zealand's North Island Sunday. The quake was centred just off the coast in the Bay of Plenty, about 210 km southeast of Auckland.

February 21st, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - A low intensity earthquake was experienced in parts of Orissa's southern district of Gajapati, the meteorological office here said Friday. 'The earthquake of 2.7 magnitude on the Richter scale occurred at 5.38 p.m.

January 18th, 2009 WELLINGTON - An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted Kermadec Islands north of New Zealand early Monday, the US Geological Survey reported. No casualties or damages were reported.

December 28th, 2008 ISLAMABAD - An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted most parts of northwestern Pakistan Monday morning, a seismological centre said. The moderate earthquake also shook Pakistan's capital Islamabad, but there was no immediate report on casualties.

December 28th, 2008 LIMA - Drug traffickers have destroyed nearly two million hectares of forests in Peru in order to grow coca, the raw material for cocaine, EFE news agency reported Monday, quoting the country's Environment Minister Antonio Brack. 'The traffickers invaded protected areas and cleared forests for land to grow coca,' the minister said, adding that this activity has destroyed 'nearly two million hectares of forest' in the country.