Friday, April 23, 2010

A 6.2-magnitude aftershock struck a large part of central and southern Chile on Friday morning, but it caused no casualties or major damage, ONEMI reported.

The aftershock took place at 06:03 local time (1003 UTC), and according to the University of Chile Geological Survey, the epicentre was located 26 kilometers to the south of Arauco, 65 kilometers to the south of Concepción, and almost 580 kilometers from Santiago. It had a depth of 54.4 kilometers. However, the United States Geological Survey reported that the aftershock had a depth of 35 kilometers and that it reached a magnitude of 5.9.

The Interior Minister, Rodrigo Hinzpeter, informed Radio Cooperativa there were no reports of casualties or damage caused by the aftershock.

ONEMI reported on their website that the aftershock reached magnitudes of up to VI in the Mercalli scale, ranging from I to XII, in some towns in the Bío Bío Region. The aftershock provoked panic in the area. ONEMI specified that the intensities of the aftershock were: VI in Lota; V in Concepción, Parral and Angol; IV in Temuco, Lonquimay and Puerto Saavedra; and III in Linares, Retiro, Constitución, Valdivia and Panguipulli.

At 06:14 (10:14 UTC), SHOA (Chilean Army Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service) ruled out the possibility of a tsunami in the affected area from Pichilemu, O’Higgins Region, until the Los Ríos Region.