This report is based on contributions from Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters.

Peru sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide frequently.

Published On 19 Jul 202619 Jul 2026

At least five people were killed and 21 others injured after two earthquakes struck a mountainous area east of Lima, Peru, authorities reported.

Peru’s National Seismological Center said the magnitude 5.1 and 3.7 quakes hit the Junin region on Saturday night. Photos on social media appear to show collapsed homes and rescue workers clearing rubble.

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Rescue workers are continuing to search for people who may still be trapped under the rubble.

“I deeply regret the consequences of the earthquake that occurred in Junin,” president-elect Keiko Fujimori said in a social media post on Sunday. “I express my most heartfelt condolences to the families of those who have passed away and my solidarity with those who have been affected.”

Luis Vasquez, head of Peru's National Civil Defense Institute, told local radio that preliminary assessments show at least 48 homes were destroyed and 18 damaged, leaving around 300 people displaced and now sheltering in tents.

The Exitosa radio station reported that five deaths resulting from the tremors have been confirmed, citing authorities. The Reuters news agency put the total at six, citing the country’s civil defence chief.

Homes in the town of Chupaca, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) east of Lima, are often constructed with adobe mud bricks and are prone to collapse.

“The earthquake destroyed our home. Here there are many adobe houses that collapsed,” an unnamed resident of Chongos Bajo told the N television network.

Peru is in the volcanic zone known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, which accounts for about 85 percent of the world’s seismic activity.

The Peruvian National Seismological Center said the first quake struck at a depth of 24 km (15 miles) and the second at 18 km. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre previously estimated that the first quake had a magnitude of 5.6.

Many homes in the affected region are built from adobe mud bricks, which are vulnerable to collapse during earthquakes. The disaster highlights the ongoing risk in rural areas with inadequate building standards. Authorities are focusing on rescue efforts and providing temporary shelters for the displaced.