Why do earthquakes occur in the middle of the continent far from plate boundaries? was recorded by Global Incident Tracker on Saturday, 24 August 2024 at 03:39 UTC. The event is classified as a earthquake incident with a severity rating of Minor, and was detected through GNEWS.
Reported by local media in Peru. Detected through our rotating per-country news sweep, which reads local-language reporting to catch incidents that never reach international feeds. Original headline: "Why do earthquakes occur in the middle of the continent far from plate boundaries? - usgs.gov".
Where this happened
The incident is located in Peru (South America), whose capital is Lima. Historically, Peru is most affected by earthquakes, floods, landslides and El Niño events. You can follow every incident recorded in this country, updated live, on the Peru incident tracker.
Approximate coordinates of the reported event are -9.200°, -75.000°. The marker on the map above shows this position; for news-derived reports the location reflects the place named in media coverage and may represent a district or city rather than an exact site.
Understanding earthquake events
Sudden ground shaking from tectonic movement, measured on the moment-magnitude scale. Magnitude describes released energy on a logarithmic scale, so a magnitude 6 releases roughly 32 times more energy than a magnitude 5. Shallow earthquakes are usually far more destructive than deep ones of the same magnitude, and building quality is typically the single largest factor in how many people are hurt.
How severity is rated
Global Incident Tracker rates every event on a four-step scale — Minor, Moderate, Severe and Extreme — derived from the source signal: earthquake magnitude, official GDACS alert colour, or the volume of independent media reporting for news-derived incidents. This event is currently rated Minor. Ratings can change as more information becomes available, and a rating is a monitoring signal rather than an official government assessment.
Safety guidance for earthquake situations
- During shaking: drop to hands and knees, cover your head and neck under sturdy furniture, and hold on until it stops.
- Do not run outside while the ground is moving — most injuries happen from falling debris at exits.
- Expect aftershocks and stay out of visibly damaged buildings.
- After shaking stops, check for gas smells before using switches or flames, and prefer SMS over voice calls to keep networks clear.
- Follow only official instructions from local authorities and emergency services — this page is a monitoring record, not an emergency alert.
Data and verification
This record was generated automatically from GNEWS and de-duplicated against our archive. Early reports for any incident can be revised: locations get refined, magnitudes are recalculated and impact figures change as assessments arrive. We deliberately do not publish casualty numbers unless an official source states them. The original source report is linked at the top of this page.
Keep watching the situation on our live world incident map, browse every earthquakes we track on the Earthquake tracker, or see today's global picture on the incidents today page.
Timeline and sources
Reported
Reported by News reports (Google News). Not independently confirmed. Copies of one syndicated story are counted once.
How statuses are decided · the number of reports is never treated as confirmation.
-
· received · event time 24 Aug 2024, 03:39 UTCFirst report News report
First recorded from News reports (Google News).
-
· receivedAlso reported (6) News report
6 more reports from News reports (Google News), received between 13 Sep 10:50 and 13 Sep 12:20 UTC. Reports from one feed are often copies of the same story, so they are not counted as independent confirmation. Links were not kept for reports merged before 13 September 2026.
News reports (Google News)
-
· received · event time 24 Aug 2024, 03:39 UTCAlso reported News report
Also reported by News reports (Google News): "Why do earthquakes occur in the middle of the continent far from plate boundaries?"
-
· received · event time 24 Aug 2024, 03:39 UTCAlso reported News report
Also reported by News reports (Google News): "Why do earthquakes occur in the middle of the continent far from plate boundaries?"
-
· received · event time 24 Aug 2024, 03:39 UTCAlso reported News report
Also reported by News reports (Google News): "Why do earthquakes occur in the middle of the continent far from plate boundaries?"
Times are when this site received each report, in UTC; the event time is shown where the source gave one. 10 reports are attached to this incident. Copies of one syndicated story count as one report.
Conditions at the time
Light rain of 4.3 mm was recorded, and the temperature peaked at 33°C.
Weather reanalysis for this location and date via Open-Meteo.