Strong earthquake of magnitude 7.4 shakes northern Chile near the Argentine border. No reports of major damage

SANTIAGO, Chile — A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck northern Chile near the border with Argentina late Thursday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, shaking homes and causing power outages. There were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage.

The quake’s epicenter was 45 kilometers southeast of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, a tourist center on the edge of the northern desert. The quake had a depth of 117 kilometers, according to the USGS, which likely weakened the quake’s intensity. The deeper an earthquake strikes, the less destructive the shock it causes at the surface.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric said his government was conducting a thorough investigation of the area, but “so far there have been no reports of injuries or major damage.” The earthquake did not trigger a tsunami alert.

Footage of boulders falling onto a highway connecting the towns of Calama and Tocopilla, east of the epicenter, circulated online, and local authorities reported road closures in the area.

The tremors of deeper earthquakes are usually felt over a larger area of ​​earth, experts say. Thursday’s quake shook six provinces – Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Arica and Parinacota – Chile’s emergency services said. At least a dozen aftershocks have shaken the surface since then.

“Despite its remarkable size and the large number of objects that fell, it is not considered a high-intensity earthquake,” researchers from the non-governmental Chilean Geosciences Network reported, speaking of “some minor tremors in the infrastructure” but no collapsed buildings. “It was not difficult for residents to get up,” they said.

Chile is located in the so-called “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific, which is particularly prone to earthquakes. Chileans still have painful memories of an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in 2010 that triggered a tsunami and killed 526 people.

The Geoscience Network said Thursday’s earthquake was the strongest in Chile since 2016, when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the south of the country.