Authorities say 8 killed in Peru quake

Lima - A shallow, 4.9-magnitude earthquake killed at least eight people whose crudely constructed homes collapsed in a remote Andean village near Cuzco, a Peruvian civil defence official said on Sunday.

The moderate quake struck on Saturday night at a depth of just 8km and affected the village of Misca, as well as the nearby communities of Cusibamba Bajo, Cajay, Canopato, Mollejcato, Muyoc and Toray in the province of Paruro in Cuzco region.

Peruvian Civil Defence released a statement saying that 45 adobe-and-stone houses collapsed and 70 more homes were cracked and left uninhabitable by the earthquake.

Peru's government declared a 90-day state of emergency in the area. President Ollanta Humala said the state of emergency would help rebuild Misca, a village of 160 Quechua inhabitants located 595km southeast of Lima that was at the epicentre of the quake.

"The population has lost everything," said Humala after visiting the village.

Misca resident Alfredo Castilla, aged 29, told The Associated Press that "the only thing standing is the school, which was built with cement.

Almost everything else is destroyed, including our only church," a reference to the Santisima Trinidad church, which was built out of adobe and stone in the 18th century.

Carlos Castro of Civil Defence said that the death toll stood at eight.