(AP)
Updated: 2007-08-16 15:40

LIMA, Peru - A powerful 7.9-magnitude earthquake shook Peru's coast near the capital, killing at least 71 people and injuring 680 others, Deputy Health Minister Jose Calderon said Thursday.

A family is seen camping in a park to spend the night after an earthquake hit the area in Lima Wednesday Aug. 15, 2007. [AP]

Speaking on television and radio, Calderon called the situation "dramatic" in Ica, a city of 650,000 people located 165 miles southeast of the capital.

He encouraged Peruvians to donate blood for the injured and said a convoy of doctors and nurses was headed to the Ica area. News reports said dozens of people were crowding hospitals in the city seeking help even though the hospitals had suffered cracks and other structural damage.

Among the dead were 17 people killed when a church collapsed in the city of Ica, south of Lima, according to cable news station Canal N. Another 70 people were injured in that incident.

The US Geological Survey said Wednesday's earthquake hit at 6:40 p.m. (7:40 pm EDT) about 90 miles southeast of Lima at a depth of about 25 miles. Four strong aftershocks ranging from magnitudes of 5.4 to 5.9 were felt afterward.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the coasts of Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama. A tsunami watch was issued for the rest of Central America and Mexico and an advisory for Hawaii.

The center canceled all the alerts after about two hours, but it said the quake had caused an estimated 10-inch tsunami near the epicenter.

"It wasn't big enough to be destructive," said Stuart Weinstein, the center's assistant director.

An Associated Press photographer said that some homes had collapsed in the center of Lima and that many people had fled into the streets for safety. The capital shook for more than a minute.

"This is the strongest earthquake I've ever felt," said Maria Pilar Mena, 47, a sandwich vendor in Lima. "When the quake struck, I thought it would never end."

President Alan Garcia ordered all police personnel to the streets of Lima to keep order and said he was sending the country's health minister and two other Cabinet members to Ica.