8.2-Magnitude Earthquake Hits the Coast of Chile, 6 Dead

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Apr 02, 2014

8.2-Magnitude Earthquake Hits the Coast of Chile, 6 Dead

An 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit the northern coast of Chile at 8:46 p.m. local time Tuesday reports CNN. It struck 60 miles northwest of Iquique, with a stretch of 12.5 miles. The earthquake triggered minor landslides and a tsunami.

The earthquake has caused six known deaths reports the Associated Press; two of those deaths were from heart attacks.

Chile’s National Emergency Office ordered evacuation from the coast. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued tsunami watches as far as Mexico’s northern coast, but the warnings were lifted by Wednesday morning.

Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet addressed the nation via Twitter in the aftermath of the disaster saying, “The country has done a good job of confronting the emergency. I call on everyone to stay calm and follow the authorities’ instructions.”

The strength of the earthquake was so strong that the tremors could be felt in the capital city of Sucre, Bolivia 290 miles away from the epicenter. Still, seismologists believe that a larger one will hit the area.

Mark Simons, a geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology said, “Could be tomorrow, could be in 50 years; we do not know when it’s going to occur. But the key point here is that this magnitude-8.2 is not the large earthquake that we were expecting for this area.”



8.2-Magnitude Earthquake Hits the Coast of Chile, 6 Dead