Strong quake hits Colombia, no damage reported

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A strong earthquake rocked southwestern Colombia on Saturday rattling residents near the border with Ecuador, but there were no reports of deaths or major damage, authorities said.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured the quake at 7.0 magnitude. Its epicenter was 6 miles (10 km) southwest of Pasto, near the border with Ecuador, and was 80 miles (130 km) deep.

The quake was felt hundreds of miles (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.

Ecuadorean media said the tremor was felt throughout the Andean country and that people in the coastal city of Manta briefly evacuated their homes, but there were no reports of major damages. (Reporting by Bogota bureau; Editing by Doina Chiacu)