Chile emerges from 7.6 magnitude Christmas day quake unscathed

Thousands of residents evacuated coastal areas in southern Chile after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck on Christmas day.

Fortunately, no fatalities were reported as a result of the quake, which occurred 140 miles south-west of Puerto Montt. The tremor was felt in Argentina, on the other side of the Andes mountains, but only small-scale structural damage was suffered in areas close to the epicentre.

An evacuation order and tsunami warning from Chile’s national emergency office were lifted three hours after the Christmas Day quake struck.

The 5,000 evacuees were allowed to return to their homes around three hours later.

The authorities say one bridge in the area was impassible as crews worked to restore electricity to 21,000 homes without power.

A tsunami warning had earlier also been issued for areas within 1,000km of the epicentre and eight, mostly small, ports in the area were closed, but the warning was later downgraded to a tsunami watch.

The region is home to several industrial salmon farms and is a tourism hub. An official with Chile’s national fish and aquaculture service said several companies had evacuated employees while evaluating possible damage to their facilities.