Chile’s hydrographic and oceanographic service said the characteristics of the earthquake did not gather the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami along the South American coast.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 reached northern Chile on Friday, causing minor damage to infrastructure and cutting electricity to more than 20,000 people without registration of victims, the authorities according to.
The US Geological Service (USGS, in the English acronym) reported that the earthquake occurred at 13:15 local (17:15 in Lisbon) at a depth of 76 kilometers, with the epicenter located near the Atacama Desert coast in Chile.
Although the earthquake has been felt in several communities of the extensive Atacama desert region, the initial reports did not confirm the existence of immediate victims.
Miguel Ortiz, deputy director of the National Catsrophese Response Service of Chile, Senapred, said the strong earthquake caused “minor” damage to infrastructure and energy interruptions, leaving at least 23,000 people without electricity.
“Some small lands of land were recorded, which are being monitored and coordinated with the municipalities,” he said.
Ortiz also registered “some small landslides”, which are being monitored and coordinated with local municipalities. Chilean President Gabriel Boric wrote in X that his government was in communication with the regional presidential delegate and confirmed that “there was no record of victims.”
Chile is located in the southeastern part of the Pacific Fire Ring, the world’s most active seismic zone, and suffers hundreds of small earthquakes due to Nazca plate subduction under the South American plate.
In 1960, the Valdivia region of southern Chile suffered the strongest earthquake of modern times, with a magnitude of 9.6 on the Richter scale, killing 1,655 people.
