A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted central Chile at 22:37:04 GMT on Sunday and the Chilean authorities have ordered for evacuation of people from low-lying coastal areas.
A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted central Chile at 22:37:04 GMT on March 25, 2012. [Xinhua] |
The earthquake did not have "the conditions needed to generate a tsunami," according to the Chile's National Emergency Bureau (Onemi).
The Onemi report was based on official data from the Chilean Army's Oceanographic Service (Shoa), Xinhua reported.
Onemi originally called for a preventative evacuation of the coast between the towns of Valparaiso and Biobio, but cancelled the warning after receiving information from Shoa.
The quake hit offshore Maule at 18:37 local time (2237 GMT) with its epicenter at a depth of 10 km.
In 2010, an 8.8-magnitude quake, which hit off the coast of central Chile, triggered a tsunami that devastated several small coastal towns.
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