A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 jolted northern Chile on Friday, leading to minor infrastructure damage and disrupting power supply for more than 20,000 residents. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the seismic event occurred at 1:15 p.m. local time (5:15 p.m. GMT) at a depth of 76 kilometers (47 miles). The epicenter was located near the coast of the Atacama Desert. Despite the widespread tremors felt across several communities in the Atacama region, there were no immediate reports of casualties. Chile’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service confirmed that the earthquake’s characteristics did not pose a tsunami threat to the South American coast. According to Miguel Ortiz, deputy director of Chile’s national disaster response service, Senapred, the earthquake caused minor damage to infrastructure and resulted in power outages, affecting almost 23,000 people.
