Santiago/Washington - An earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale struck northern Chile Wednesday. The US Geological Survey (USGS) in Denver, Colorado, said the epicentre of the quake that hit at 1540 GMT was located 40 kilometers southeast of Tocopilla near the western coast, more than 1,000 kilometres north of the Chilean capital Santiago. The quake was also felt to the north in Bolivia's capital La Paz.
There were no initial reports of damage or injuries, but the USGS warned that the earthquake may have caused substantial damage or casualties due to its location and size.
The USGS initially issued a tsunami warning for the west coast of the United States, Alaska and the Canadian province of British Columbia, but cancelled the warning soon after.
