Two strong earthquakes shook the coastal region in northwest Chile within half an hour on Tuesday night.
The first quake reached a magnitude of 6.8 shortly after midnight, as reported by the US earthquake monitoring station USGS.
The center was said to be around 80 kilometers northwest of the city of Vallenar in the Atacama region.
The second earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 occurred shortly afterwards, it said.
Weaker tremors followed.
Chilean authorities gave slightly different information.
Accordingly, the first quake even had a strength of 7.0.
A tsunami warning was not issued.
Reports of injuries and damage have not yet been received, according to local media.
There are always violent earthquakes in Chile.
The entire west coast of the American double continent lies on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, which is known for its high seismic activity.
One of the most violent earthquakes in the South American country occurred in February 2010. The 8.8 magnitude quake killed more than 500 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
The historic core of the city of Curicós, around 120 kilometers south of the capital Santiago, has been largely razed to the ground.
Even days after that, aftershocks repeatedly triggered panic among the population.
Icon: The mirror
bam / dpa
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7ERVSCT4FUVX6R7TUVBDNTH5Y.jpg)
