Powerful quake rocks northern Argentina

WASHINGTON—A 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked northern Argentina Friday, but the epicenter was almost 600 kilometers (370 miles) underground and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Experts from the US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 10:47 am local time (1347 GMT) about 30 kilometers (20 miles) west of Anatuya, a small town in the northern Argentine province of Santiago del Estero.

A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 hit the same sparsely populated region in January. The epicenter of that quake was also very deep with seismologists saying the effect at the surface was therefore limited.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake killed two people in northern Argentina in February 2010, hours after a massive 8.8-magnitude quake struck Chile, leaving more than 500 people dead and sending tsunami waves crashing across the ocean.