Nakala asilia - Kiingereza - A powerful earthquake has killed more than 330...

A powerful earthquake has killed more than 330 people in Peru, the nation's civil defense agency reported early on Thursday.

The massive earthquake hit Peru on Wednesday evening killing scores of people as many homes and a church collapsed.

Peru's health minister initially said few died in the 7.9-magnitude quake, but the toll later rose to more than 330, the nation's civil defense agency said. Hundreds were injured.

"Unfortunately we have official numbers," Luis Palomino, the head of the agency, told Reuters. On its web site, the agency said 337 people died and 827 were injured.

Emergency workers said the coastal province of Ica south of Lima was the hardest hit region.

One fire department official in the area said at least four people were trapped when the main tower of the Senor de Luren church in the city of Ica was toppled.

Rescuers struggled to move south toward Ica as portions of the Pan-American Highway, an key coastal route, were impassable and thieves assaulted stranded travelers, radio reports said.

"I was with my children when the movement started and then the walls collapsed. My house was destroyed," Milagros Meneses, 35, told Reuters in the city of Canete south of the capital, Lima. "The hospital gave me a tent for my kids to sleep in."

At least two people were killed in Canete.

Office workers ran onto the streets in fear as tall buildings in Lima shook in two waves that lasted around 20 seconds each and cut power lines.

A tsunami warning was issued for Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia and a small tsunami was detected. But it posed no major threat and the warning was later lifted.