Lima, Peru ? A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7 hit northern Peru late Sunday, causing power outages and cutting phone service throughout much of the region.

One radio report said four people were killed.

Peru’s Geophysics Institute said the quake struck at 8:55 p.m. and was centered about 60 miles northeast of the jungle city Moyobamba, 420 miles north of the capital Lima.

“Several houses have fallen down and there are several people dead,” Carlos Mori, a resident of the jungle town of Lamas, near Moyobamba, told Radioprograms. “All of the residents of Lamas are in the streets. Most of the people are helping.”

Mori said about 20 houses had collapsed and that four people were dead.