6.8-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Coast of Chile, USGS Says

There has been no further information concerning possible casualties or damage as a result of the earthquake. No tsunami warning has been issued.

A 6.8-magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Los Lagos, Chile, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

According to seismologists, the epicentre of Sunday's earthquake was registered 149 kilometres northwest of Corral, Chile, at a depth of 10 kilometres. The tremor occurred at 21:39 GMT, the USGS said.

The US National Weather Service's (NWS) National Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami danger for the US West Coast, British Columbia, or Alaska, following the quake.

"Based on earthquake information and historic tsunami records, the earthquake is not expected to generate a tsunami", the warning centre said in its Sunday report.

M6.8 - 149 km WNW of Corral, Chile
Mag: 6.8
Depth: 10km
Date-Time: 2020-12-27 21:39:20 UTChttps://t.co/8ImkhQ8FdX#USGS #Earthquake #Chile pic.twitter.com/9tDrahPfZd

— World Earthquakes on the Map (@MapQuake) December 27, 2020

There were no immediate reports of damage following the earthquake.

According to the Richter scale, earthquakes starting with 6.0 magnitude are considered "strong", able to cause moderate to strong damage to poor structures in the area.