A powerful magnitude 6.7 earthquake tore through the remote mountains of southern Peru on Thursday afternoon, injuring at least two people and damaging homes, health posts and a school in one of the country's poorest and most isolated regions.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at 1 p.m. local time (18:00 GMT), centered about 38 kilometers (24 miles) northwest of the town of Upahuacho in Parinacochas province, part of the Ayacucho region roughly 800 kilometers southeast of Lima. USGS put the depth at 66.7 kilometers, while Peru's own Geophysical Institute recorded a stronger 7.2 magnitude at a depth of 108 kilometers, according to the Associated Press.

The two people hurt were injured while evacuating their homes in Coracora, the provincial capital, authorities said. Officials reported damage to 22 homes, six health centers and a school scattered across the districts of Puquio, Pullo, Coracora, Upahuacho, San Pedro and Pichari. No deaths were reported.

Felt across six regions

The shaking rippled far beyond the epicenter, felt with moderate to strong intensity across Ica, Arequipa, Huancavelica, Apurímac and Cusco, and even reaching the capital, Lima, more than 500 miles away, according to RTÉ. Local footage showed rockslides tumbling down hillsides near the epicenter as residents fled into open streets.

"The population has responded, they evacuated and took shelter," said Coracora Mayor Yony Odón, who added he was hopeful the damage would prove limited.

Peru's National Institute of Civil Defense said crews were still assessing the full extent of structural damage in the isolated Andean districts, many of which are hours from paved roads and reachable only after landslide checks.

Peru sits astride the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where the Nazca and South American tectonic plates grind together, making the country one of the most seismically active on Earth. The region has a grim precedent: a 2007 magnitude 7.9 quake centered near Ica killed roughly 600 people and leveled much of the coastal city of Pisco, a comparison cited by both CBC News and wire reports covering Thursday's tremor.

Emergency teams were dispatched overnight to the affected highland districts to deliver tents, blankets and medical supplies, officials said, while seismologists warned residents to expect aftershocks in the coming days. Authorities said a fuller damage assessment is expected once crews reach the more remote villages closest to the epicenter.