Eight dead, including four children, in Peru quake

At least eight people died, including four children, and half a dozen were injured in a 4.9-magnitude earthquake that shook a rural Andean region in Peru, police said Sunday.

The victims were all from the community of Mica, where 90 percent of the town's rustic homes collapsed when the quake struck the southeastern Cusco region Saturday night.

"We toured the area and we have confirmed the deaths of eight people: a male and seven females, four of them minors," Rodrigo Prada Vargas, Cusco police chief, told local radio.

Civil Defense officials said at least half a dozen injured individuals had received aid.

The quake struck at 10:35 pm (0335 GMT) Saturday, 19 kilometers (12 miles) southwest of the town of Urcos at a depth of 43 kilometers, according to the US Geological Survey.

Roads to the community became blocked said police, who only reached the area at dawn.

Government minister Ana Jara reported on Twitter that Peru had ordered humanitarian aid to the area.