Chile earthquake: Powerful 6.8 magnitude tremor hits coast

Videos posted online show overhead lights swaying following quake – originally said to be 7.2 magnitude – that hit off coast

(USGIS screenshot)

An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 has struck off Chile’s coast, the US Geological Survey (USGS) says.

The quake was centred 83 miles (134 km) west of Talca.

The quake was shallow at a depth of 6.1 miles, and there were no immediate warnings of tsunamis from the incident.

A video posted on Twitter from a Chilean journalist appears to show an office in the country impacted by the quake, with overhead lights swaying from the tremor. The video did not appear to show much danger in the building.

Another video, apparently taken from inside of an airport, likewise showed overhead lights swaying as would-be passengers looked on. Yet another video simply showed a chandelier swaying.

The quake comes nine years after a much stronger, 8.8 magnitude quake decimated parts of the Chilean coast.

That earthquake, in 2010, hit in a similar location to the Sunday quake, and caused widespread damage after a tsunami was triggered.

The Sunday earthquake was originally reported by the USGS to be a 7.2 quake, but was later downgraded to a 6.8.