Calama Chile has 7.7 earthquake

November 14, 2007

Calama, Chile has been struck by a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey.

The quake, 60km (37 miles) deep, was centred 106km west of the town of Calama and struck at 1240 local time (1540 GMT), the USGS said.

"It was horribly strong. It was very long and there was a lot of underground noise," Andrea Riveros, a hotel worker in Calama, told news agency AP.

The quake could be felt strongly in the capital, 1,260km south, reported AP.

There were reports of outages of electrical and phone services, but no immediate news of casualties.

Two tectonic plates - the Nazca and the South American - clash in this region.

In August more than 500 people died when an 8.0 magnitude quake struck neighbouring Peru just south of Lima.

Earthquake Details

Magnitude 7.7
Date-Time Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 15:40:53 UTC
Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 12:40:53 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 22.189°S, 69.843°W
Depth 60 km (37.3 miles)
Region ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
Distances 40 km (25 miles) ESE of Tocopilla, Chile
100 km (60 miles) WNW of Calama, Chile
170 km (105 miles) NNE of Antofagasta, Chile
1245 km (780 miles) N of SANTIAGO, Chile

Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 8.6 km (5.3 miles); depth +/- 12.3 km (7.6 miles)
Parameters Nst=192, Nph=192, Dmin=106.7 km, Rmss=1.09 sec, Gp= 76°,
M-type=moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6
Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D)
Event ID us2007jsat

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