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6.3 Quake Hits Northern Chile, No Injuries Reported |
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| CHILE: February 5, 2008 | ||
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SANTIAGO - A 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit northern Chile on Monday, near the city of Iquique, but there were no reports of injuries, emergency officials and local media said.
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"There are no reports of damage, nor of people injured by it, however we will continue to monitor the situation, town by town," Carmen Fernandez, director of Chile's National Emergency Office, known as Onemi, told Cooperativa Radio. The earthquake hit at 2:01 p.m. (1701 GMT), the US Geological Survey said. The USGS initially reported a magnitude of 6.6, which was later revised to 6.3. The quake's epicenter was 22 miles (35 km) beneath the surface and 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Iquique, the USGS said. The agency previously located the quake 55 miles (88 km) north-northeast of Iquique. Cooperativa Radio said that landslides had affected some roads in the Iquique area but no injuries had been reported. The Collahuasi copper mine, owned by Xstrata Copper and Anglo-American Plc that produces 8.2 percent of Chile's copper, is located 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Iquique. The Xstrata press office in Chile said operations were not affected. "There hasn't been any impact on Collahuasi or our operations in the Antofagasta region," Xstrata spokeswoman Emily Russell told Reuters. A spokeswoman for Chile's government-owned Codelco, the world's top copper miner, said that operations at its giant Chuquicamata mine were not affected. Two people died in a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in November in Chile, which damaged or destroyed thousands of homes. (Reporting by Monica Vargas and Lisa Yulkowski; Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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