Bogota - A powerful earthquake rocked northwest-Colombia yesterday, near its border with Panama, but initial reports said it caused only limited damage and no casualties.
A spokesman for the National Seismological Institute said the earthquake registered 6.2 on the Richter scale and was capable of causing severe damage in a populated area. Its epicentre was located just off the Pacific coast near the town of Jurado, in the impoverished, jungle-covered province of Choco.
Several buildings in Jurado either collapsed or were damaged in the quake. Mr Jose Palomares, a spokesman for the Seismological Institute, said two people suffered minor injuries.
In January last year, in Colombia's central region, an earthquake killed 1,230 people and left 250,000 others homeless.