Chole: A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 hit near San Pedro de Atacama in Chile on Thursday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The USGS said the tremor hit 265 kilometres east of the coastal city of Antofagasta at a depth of 128 km.
The quake struck at at 9:51pm (local time) and there were no immediate reports of damage.
According to AFP, no tsunami warning has been issued so far.
In January, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck the northern Chilean region of Tarapaca at a depth of 118 km. No loss was reported at the time.
Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. It sits on the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” a seismically turbulent region where many of Earth’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.
It has been hit by some of the strongest recorded earthquakes in the world, including a record 9.5 magnitude quake in 1960 in the southern city of Valdivia.
