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Strong Earthquake Hits Central Chile


People gather around a bonfire during a blackout after an earthquake hit Chile's central zone, in Santiago, Aug. 23, 2014.
People gather around a bonfire during a blackout after an earthquake hit Chile's central zone, in Santiago, Aug. 23, 2014.

A strong, magnitude 6.6 quake hit central Chile on Saturday afternoon, shaking buildings and causing power outages in the capital Santiago.

But there were no reports of serious damage, and the Chilean navy said there was no risk of a tsunami.

The Chilean emergency service ONEMI said the quake struck 50 kilometers northeast of Valparaiso, and said about 100,000 people lost electrical power in capital. Smaller outages were reported elsewhere in the region.

Copper producer Codelco said its Andina mine in the area was operating normally. Most of Chile's copper mines are in the north of the country, which was not affected by the quake.

The relatively shallow quake was felt as far away as southern Chile and western Argentina.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters.

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