Strong ’quake rocks Chile

Press, 5 August 1978, Page 6

Strong ’quake rocks Chile

NZPA Santiago (Chile) A strong earthquake has shaken central and northern Chile, killing a miner, injuring at least seven people and causing considerable damage in and around the northern copper mining centre of Copiapo. the Government has said. The unidentified miner was killed in a cave-in at a copper mine about 40km from Copiapo, the authorities said. The injured, some in a serious condition, were taken to a Copiapo hospital. About four hours after the first earthquake hit. a weaker tremor was felt in the area. There were no reports of additional damage or injuries. First reports from the area’s military governor said that electricity and normal communications channels were cut by the earthquake, which toppled homes in Copiapo, a city of 35.000 about 660 km north of the capital, Santiago, on the edge of the Atacama Desert. By late in the day, all services were reported back to normal.

Sources said the impact] was strongest in the mining ■ town of Potrerillos. 120 km north-east of Copiapo. A Government spokesman said that seven houses were destroyed and a hospital and 45 'other homes were damaged lin the community of about ] 'BOOO. The tremor was felt from Santiago and Valparaiso in, central Chile, north to the] city o Antofagasta, a dis-] tance of 1370 km. The Seismology Centre at the University of Chile in Santiago said that the earthquake was centered in the Pacific Ocean on a westerly line from "Copiapo, which is about 50km inland. The United States Geological Survey in Washington said that the earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 6.7 on the open-ended Richter scale and occurred at 2.11 p.m. Thursday (6.11 a.m. yesterday, N.Z. time). An earthquake of seven on I the Richter scale is a strong ] earthquake, capable of widespread heavy damage. About ,400,000 people live in the : provinces hardest hit by the' tremor.