Sharjah24 – AFP: A 7.5-magnitude earthquake in northern Peru injured 12 people and destroyed 117 homes, leaving more than 2,400 people without a roof over their heads, authorities said Monday.

The quake, which struck in the early hours of Sunday and sent shock waves across the region, also leveled five churches and damaged a clinic and some 1.5 kilometers (0.93 miles) of roads.

The tremor was felt in nearly half of the country, including coastal and Andean regions and the capital Lima. It also caused damage in neighboring Ecuador.

The epicenter was 98 kilometers east of the small Peruvian town of Santa Maria de Nieva in the Peruvian Amazon -- a sparsely populated area inhabited by indigenous people, many of whom live in wood and mud houses, which collapsed.

The 14-meter (45-foot) tower of a colonial-era church collapsed in the La Jalca district, also in the Amazon.

Widespread power outages were reported, and roads were cut off by rocks unearthed by the tremor.