Chile, Argentina order evacuations over post-quake tsunami threat

Santiago: Chilean authorities issued a tsunami warning for the country’s southernmost region on Friday morning, while both Chile and Argentina ordered evacuations after a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of South America.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake struck the Drake Passage at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres (6.2 miles), located 219 kilometres from Argentina’s city of Ushuaia and a similar distance from Chile’s town of Puerto Williams.

The USGS measured the magnitude at 7.4, slightly lower than the 7.5 reported by Chile’s National Seismological Centre.

The quake occurred at 9:58 am local time (1258 GMT), and several smaller aftershocks were recorded subsequently.

Evacuations underway

"ATTENTION! #SENAPRED, due to the threat of a tsunami, requests the evacuation of the sector of the coastline of the #Magallanes Region," Chile’s emergency agency SENAPRED posted on its social media account.

President Gabriel Boric echoed the call, urging the "evacuation of the coastline throughout the Magallanes region" through a post on his X account.

In Argentina’s far-southern Tierra del Fuego province, authorities said the tremors were mainly felt in Ushuaia and called for residents in a nearby village along the Beagle Channel to evacuate as a precaution.

Officials from both the Magallanes region and Tierra del Fuego stated that there had been no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

High seismic activity in Chile

Chile is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with three tectonic plates—the Nazca, South American, and Antarctic plates—converging within its territory.

According to the Chilean Navy, the wave train generated by Friday’s earthquake is expected to reach the coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula and the southern tip of South America within hours, with estimated wave heights between 0.3 and 1 metre.

The first locations expected to be impacted are Chilean military bases Bernardo O’Higgins and Arturo Prat, situated in Antarctica.

Residents urged to remain calm

The Magallanes region, located at the southern tip of South America, is Chile’s second largest region but is sparsely populated, neighbouring Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego Province.

The governor’s office in Tierra del Fuego noted that "the earthquake was felt primarily in the city of Ushuaia and, to a lesser extent, in other towns throughout the province." While encouraging calm, authorities asked residents in and around Puerto Almanza, located approximately 75 kilometres east of Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel, "to preventively evacuate the area and move to higher, safer ground."

Several videos shared on X showed Chileans evacuating their homes in Puerto Williams, the town closest to the quake’s epicentre. Chilean police posted footage of an officer pushing a person in a wheelchair uphill in the town of 2,800 inhabitants. Other clips showed residents walking up hills under clear skies.

"The preventive evacuation was carried out well, with no incidents so far reported," Juan Carlos Andrade, director of SENAPRED in Magallanes, told reporters.

History of devastating earthquakes

Chile has a history of devastating earthquakes. In 1960, the city of Valdivia was destroyed by a magnitude 9.5 earthquake—the most powerful ever recorded—resulting in 9,500 deaths. In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude quake off central Chile’s coast triggered a tsunami and led to the deaths of more than 520 people.

AFP inputs