Minor damage from strong Chilean quake

SANTIAGO, Chile, April 1 (UPI) -- A strong earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale rumbled through Chile Monday afternoon, but apparently caused no serious damage or casualties.

The United States Geological Survey reported the quake, which hit at 3:59 p.m. Chilean time, was felt in Santiago, nearly 300 miles from the epicenter along the nation's central coast.

The USGS placed the epicenter just offshore about 35 miles northeast of Coquimbo and 275 miles north of Santiago.

There were no immediate reports from Coquimbo, but Chilean media reported scattered landslides, power outages and minor damage to buildings in other parts of the nation.

Chile is located along the seam of two tectonic plates and has a long history of seismic activity, at times devastating. According to the USGS, the largest earthquake of the 20th century, measuring 9.5 on the Richter scale, killed 2,000 people in southern Chile on May 22, 1960. The great quake was the largest in a series of earthquakes that left 2 million people homeless and triggered deadly tidal waves that reached as far away as Hawaii and Japan.