Magnitude-6.6 quake strikes north-central Chile

USGS ShakeMap: OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILE

SANTIAGO, Chile—A 6.6-magnitude earthquake rocked north-central Chile on Thursday, causing buildings to sway in the capital and nervous people to run out into the streets.

But Chile’s emergency services office said no damages to infrastructure were reported and Chile’s Navy discarded the possibility of a tsunami.

The US Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) southwest of the city of Coquimbo or about 400 kilometers (250 miles) from Santiago. Its depth was 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries. A magnitude-8.8 quake and the tsunami it unleashed in 2010 killed more than 500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts.

That quake was so strong it shortened the Earth’s day slightly by changing the planet’s rotation. The strongest earthquake ever recorded also happened in Chile, a magnitude-9.5 in 1960 that killed more than 5,000 people.