A strong earthquake rocked southwestern Colombia yesterday rattling residents near the border with Ecuador, but there were no reports of deaths or major damage, authorities said.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.0 magnitude. Its epicentre was 10 km southwest of Pasto, near the border with Ecuador, and was 130 km deep.

The quake was felt hundreds of kilometres south in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, where buildings shook for at least two minutes.

Some residents of the Colombian capital, Bogota, were evacuated briefly from buildings.

There were no immediate reports of damage.

“For the time being no damages have been reported in southern regions and the Andean area, where the quake was felt,” said the head of the national emergency services office, Carlos Ivan Marquez, said in a Twitter posting.

He said the quake did not generate a tsunami warming.

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