6.8 quake jolts central Chile; no damage reported

A strong magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck central Chile on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck at 4:31 a.m. 29 miles southwest of the city of Ovalle, nearly 185 miles northwest of the capital of Santiago. It struck at a depth of 22 miles.

The quake shook Santiago, causing office buildings to sway. Chile’s emergency services office first alerted, but later discounted, the possibility of a small tsunami.

“The situation in the region of the epicenter is now in a state of normality,” Ricardo Toro, the head of the emergency services, said in a press conference.

He added that Saturday’s quake was part of a string of aftershocks from an 8.3-magnitude quake that hit off Chile’s coast on Sept. 16.

That Sept. 16 quake killed 15 people, forced the evacuation of more than 1 million from coastal areas and caused much anxiety. But seismologists said Chile’s heavy investment in the structural reinforcement of buildings and its constant refinement of a tsunami alert system helped prevent what would have been a catastrophe in less prepared nations.

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Chile is highly earthquake-prone. In 2010, a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake struck the country, one of the strongest ever recorded. The quake and the tsunami it unleashed killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

The strongest earthquake ever recorded also happened in Chile: a devastating magnitude-9.5 jolt in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.

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