6.7 magnitude quake hits northern Chile:
USGS
Published on Jan 31, 2013
8:00 AM
SANTIAGO (AFP) - A strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake jolted northern Chile on Wednesday, US
monitors said, knocking out electricity and local telecom services and sending panicked northerners
running into the streets.
The earthquake occurred at 2015 GMT, at the relatively shallow depth of 47.5km and the epicenter was
located 102km from the mining town of Copiapo, the US Geological Service said.
That is about 800 km north of the capital Santiago. Chilean authorities did not immediately report any
fatalities.
The quake, which lasted longer than a minute, downed phone service and power in cities in the region,
local officials said.
Panicked people ran out into the streets of the town of Atacama, recalling the tsunami that hit the south
three year ago, as homes were were damaged in the city of Vallenar, and in Copiapo, the quake knocked
out windows.
"At city hall, some fragile items were smashed and a television set fell.
Some people ran out of the building," Vallenar mayor Cristian Tapia said.
He said some people were stunned and ran into the streets, and that some of them had panic attacks and
were treated in local medical centers.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said in a preliminary report that, based on historical data,
no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed, but noted that an earthquake of such magnitude could
cause localised damage.
Meanwhile, Chile's National Tsunami Alert System said the conditions were not favourable for a tsunami
event.
In February 2010, a massive 8.8-strength earthquake hit Chile's central Maule region, south of Valparaiso,
generating tsunami waves, killing more than 500 people and causing about US$30 billion (S$36.9 billion)
in damage.
Since then, further quakes have caused concern about what could come.
But experts said that Wednesday's quake was not related to the 2010 one; in fact they are on different
tectonic plates.
The town of Copiapo garnered global attention two years ago when 33 workers were trapped deep inside a
nearby mine for more than two months before being rescued.
It took emergency services 17 days to drill a small shaft to establish contact, and more than two months of
painstaking effort before they opened a passageway wide enough to pull them out, one by one.
Powerful 6.0 quake rumbles off Alaska coast:
US Geological Survey
Published on Jan 31, 2013
6:47 PM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A powerful 6.0-magnitude quake rumbled off the coast of Alaska early on
Thursday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), but there were no immediate reports of
casualties or damage.
The epicenter of the quake was 102km from Craig, Alaska, and more than 1,000km from Vancouver, in
the Canadian province of British Columbia, the USGS said.
The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no risk of the earthquake generating a
tsunami.
An even larger 7.5-magnitude quake struck off Alaska in the same area earlier this month, generating a
local tsunami and rattling homes as far away as the state capital Juneau, some 330km away.
The Jan 5 temblor also caused no casualties or damage.