A powerful earthquake measuring 7.0 struck the Southern Ocean near Antarctica on Saturday, prompting a tsunami alert for virtually uninhabited areas. Serious damage or injuries are not expected.
The earthquake happened at 8:37 p.m. Chilean time on Saturday and was centered in the Southern Ocean, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) south of Elephant, a mountainous island in the outer reaches of the South Shetland Islands.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) put the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.0, down from an earlier estimate of 7.3. It struck about 8 kilometers (5 miles) below the ocean floor, making it a very shallow earthquake.
Islands near the earthquake epicenter, including Elephant but also King George Island and Clarence, have no permanent population but are home to a number of research stations.
Chile’s National Office of Emergencies (ONEMI) issued a tsunami alert for Chilean Antarctica, which is uninhabited except for a small town and research station called Villa Las Estrellas. “ONEMI requests leaving the beach area of the Antarctic territory,” it said.
In a statement, the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said: “Earthquakes of this size are known to generate tsunamis dangerous to shorelines near the source.” It said there was no tsunami threat to U.S. coastlines.
No comments:
Post a Comment