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When swarms of quakes occurred in Colorado and Oklahoma last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency asked the geologic survey to investigate possible links to energy extraction in the area. – File Photo from Creative Commons

BOGOTA: A strong earthquake that shook Colombia over the weekend destroyed 100 houses and damaged nearly 2,000 others, authorities said Sunday. Only 15 people were injured, none seriously, they said.

The National Risk Management Unit said all areas affected by Saturday's quake had been reached, and the toll was definitive.

“A total of 15 people injured, 100 houses destroyed, 1,896 houses damaged,”the agency said via Twitter.

Twenty-four schools and a clinic also were among the structures damaged by the quake, which registered 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale and 6.9 on the Richter scale.

Its epicenter was near Pasto, Colombia, a city of 400,000 that lies in the shadow of the Galeras volcano in the southwestern province of Narino. The quake was felt as far away as Bogota and Quito, Ecuador.

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