Strong earthquake hits Chile, tsunami threat declared

Powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.5 shook southern regions of Chile, triggering tsunami alert

The natural disaster occurred 218 kilometers south of Puerto Williams, in the area of the strategically important Strait of Magellan. Seismologists note that the underground tremors were particularly dangerous due to the shallow depth of the epicenter — just 10 kilometers from the surface.

Chile's National Disaster Prevention Service immediately began evacuating the population of the coastal zone in the Magallanes region, located in the south of the country. The emergency measures were prompted by the high probability of destructive tsunami waves.

Parallel to the Chilean earthquake, specialists recorded another powerful underground shock with a magnitude of 7.1 (according to updated data from the US Geological Survey - 7.4) off the coast of neighboring Argentina.

The epicenter of the second earthquake was located 285 kilometers southeast of the Argentine city of Ushuaia, home to about 58 thousand people, and 511 kilometers southeast of the Chilean Punta Arenas with a population of approximately 117 thousand people. The focus of this earthquake was also at a depth of just 10 kilometers.