A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit central Chile on late Sunday evening, 10.29 p.m. local time (0129 GMT Monday) seismologists and officials said, causing some power outages on the one year anniversary of the huge earthquake/tsunami that rocked the region on February 2010. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) measured the strength of a Chile earthquake at 6.0 on the Richter scale with a depth of 10 miles.
The quake’s epicenter happened about 17 miles north of Lebu, a port city in the Biobío region and about 19 miles deep, which is considered a shallow earthquake, according to the country’s National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry (ONEMI).
It has been estimated that around 248,000 people likely felt strong shaking, there were few damages reported.
ONEMI said the earthquake was not strong enough to generate a tsunami. “The Bio Bio region has partial power outages in Cañete and Chiguayante,” ONEMI said, without providing further details.
