Powerful quake rocks northwest Colombia

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- A powerful earthquake rocked northern Colombia on Wednesday, 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 quake, which registered 6.2 on the Richter scale and was capable of causing severe damage in a populated area, struck at 2 a.m. (0700 GMT).

Its epicenter was located just off the Pacific coast near the town of Jurado, in the impoverished, jungle-covered northwest province of Choco.

Several buildings in Jurado either collapsed or were damaged in the quake, whose epicenter was located just 18 miles (30 km) beneath the Earth's surface.

Jose Palomares, a spokesman for the Seismological Institute, said only two people suffered minor injuries.

In January last year, Colombia's central coffee-growing region was devastated by an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale. It killed around 1,230 people and left 250,000 others homeless.

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