Strong earthquake rocks Chile

Thousands of people were evacuated from coastal areas in southern Chile yesterday following a powerful Christmas Day earthquake that initially triggered a tsunami alert, later eased by officials.
The quake registered 7.7 on the Moment Magnitude scale according to seismologists at the US Geological Survey.
Chile’s national emergencies office ONEMI put it at 7.6. There were no immediate reports of casualties, though electricity was cut to some communities.
Immediately after the quake, Chilean authorities issued a tsunami alert and urged people to flee the coast for high ground.
Later, the alert was downgraded to a “state of precaution” for several areas, according to ONEMI chief Ricardo Toro.
ONEMI said around 4,000 people had been evacuated from one town, Los Lagos.
It maintained its order for the public to stay away from many beaches in the south.
The epicentre of the quake was on the southern part of Chiloe island, in a zone of several national parks.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Honolulu, Hawaii, had given the depth of the quake at 15kms.
The closest population centre was Castro, a town on the island of 40,000 inhabitants. Chile’s capital Santiago was around 1,000kms from the epicentre.
“The earthquake hit us as we were having breakfast and we immediately ran out of the house because of fears of a tsunami,” a man who fled with his family told Chilean television.