Santiago, April 2 (IANS) An earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck off Chile’s coast near Iquique, triggering a tsunami warning for all of Latin America’s Pacific coast, the US Geological Survey (USGS)said Wednesday.
The quake, centred 86km (56 miles) north-west of the mining area of Iquique, is very shallow, only 10km below the seabed, which would have made it feel stronger, BBC reported citing the USGS.
The South American country of Chile is a long, narrow strip of land between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far south.
