Monday, May 14, 2012

Peru-Chile border hit by 6.2 quake

A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake shook the border area straddling southern Peru and northern Chile early today, but there were no reports of damage, the Andean neighbors' national emergency offices said.

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck 41 miles (66 km) east-northeast of Tacna in Peru, and 66 miles (107 km) northeast of Arica in the far north of world No. 1 copper producer Chile.

The tremor hit at a depth of 61.1 miles (98.3 km), it said. The USGS had earlier reported two quakes of 5.9 magnitude had struck seconds apart, but later updated its Web site to show only one.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage in Chile, said a spokeswoman for Chile's state emergency office (ONEMI).

A spokeswoman for Chile's Collahuasi, the world's No. 3 copper mine owned jointly by Anglo American Plc and Xstrata Plc, said its operations had not been affected by the quake.

Union leader Manuel Munoz said the quake had however caused some rocks to fall on roads at the deposit.

In Lima, a spokesman for the emergency operations center of the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) said there were no immediate reports of damage, though an official at Peru's Geophysics Institute said electricity was disrupted in the southern Peruvian region near the border with Chile.

Quakes are common in Chile, which was hit by a devastating 8.8 magnitude temblor in early 2010 which triggered tsunami that battered the south-central Chilean coastline in a disaster which killed around 500 people and ravaged industries.