7.7-magnitude quake jolts southern Chile, tsunami warning lifted
A powerful earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale has struck southern Chile, with authorities to first issue a tsunami warning before lifting it hours later.
The Christmas Day seismic activity hit near the southern tip of Chiloe Island, some 40 kilometers southwest of the port city of Quellón, at 11:22 local time on Sunday.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the quake occurred at a depth of 34.6 kilometers and shook a relatively sparsely populated area. The epicenter of the quake, in a zone of several national parks, lies some 1,300 kilometers south of the capital Santiago.
The Chilean government's national emergencies office, known as ONEMI, along with the USGS, on Sunday issued a tsunami alert for the southern coastal areas. Chilean officials also ordered the coastal areas to be evacuated as a safety precautionary measure.
Local emergency services predicted tsunami waves, reaching around one meter above the tide level, to hit parts of the coast.
However, a few hours later, ONEMI lifted the tsunami alert it had issued for the country's southern coast with the head of the office, Ricardo Toro, saying that the warning had been downgraded to a "state of precaution" for several areas.
According to ONEMI, no deaths or injuries, caused by the earthquake, has been reported yet.
Chile is one of the most earthquake prone regions across the globe and buildings are designed to withstand frequent quakes. Moreover, the country has long established anti-seismic engineering systems that apply a technique known as seismic isolation to protect structures from the earth's judders.
Chile lies on what is referred to as the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of fault lines that circles the Pacific Basin and is susceptible to recurrent earthquakes as well as volcanic eruptions.
In 2010 a destructive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the south-central coast of the Latin American country and was recorded as one of the strongest ever. The devastating quake and the tsunami it unleashed claimed the lives of over 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes and washed away docks, river fronts and seaside resorts.
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