New, strong earthquake hits Chile

Chile has been hit by yet another quake today. The epicentre was some 80 km south west of the city of Copiapo and 600 kms to the north of the country’s capital, Santiago.

According to the US Geological Survey, the effects of the earthquake were felt as far away as Santiago.

It struck at 11:52 a.m. local time (10:52 p.m. EDT; 1452 GMT) and registered 6.2 on the Richter scale.  There have been no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The temblor happened far away from the epicenter of last month’s devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which claimed 452 lives, destroyed $8 billion worth of homes, schools and hospitals, and cost nearly $1 billion in road damages.