Chile Earthquake: Magnitude 6.8 Quake Shakes Central-Northern Chile

A magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck central-northern Chile on Wednesday - its impact felt as far as Santiago, Reuters reported. Although there were no reports of serious damage, the shock of the earthquake may have caused a woman in the city of Copiapo to die of an apparent heart attack, the U.S. Geological Survey and local officials indicated, according to Reuters.

The quake, centered 44 kilometers north of Vallenar, hit at 4:15 p.m. local time, according to Al-Jazeera. It struck south of Chile's large copper mines, and Chile's emergency office told Reuters there were no preliminary reports of significant damage there.

"Mining companies have reported some minor rock falls on auxiliary roads," Mauricio Pino, Copiapo's regional mining authority, told Reuters. "The companies' personnel are fine and there are no structural damages to speak of."

But the earthquake still wreaked its share of havoc. Witnesses spoke of panic-stricken people running through the streets, Al-Jazeera reported.

Cristian Tapia, the mayor of Vallenar, told Al-Jazeera that telephone lines were jammed and some electricity lines were down, but everything is slowly being restored.

"The first half hour was really tough. We're still having problems with telecommunications," Tapia told state television, as cited in Al-Jazeera. "Two walls collapsed. We're evaluating ruptures at homes to find out if they're still safe to live in."

Although no injuries were immediately reported and infrastructure damage was minimal, Miguel Ortiz, national chief of the early alert center at Chile's emergency office, told Al-Jazeera that people probably evacuated the country, simply because they're accustomed to such weather-related threats.

"There's no doubt the population in some places fled, following a culture of evacuation," Ortiz said. Two lower-intensity aftershocks were reported, but Chile has seen worse.

In 2010, an 8.8.-magnitude quake, coupled with a tsunami, killed 551 people, destroyed 220,000 homes and eroded docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts - costing the country $30bn, 18 percent of its gross domestic product, Al-Jazeera reported.

Chile's 2010 earthquake was so powerful that it influenced the entire Earth - the day is now slightly shorter, and the planet's rotation is a bit shorter, according to Al-Jazeera.

Chile was also the site of the world's strongest earthquake in 1960, Al-Jazeera reported, a magnitude 9.5, taking the lives of 5,000 people in its path.