Photo: USGS
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake was reported in Chile on Thursday (February 12), according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was recorded at 10:34 a.m. local time and centered at 32 kilometers (about 20 miles) southwest of Ovalle at a depth of 36.9 kilometers (about 23 miles). The USGS said it received 88 reports of people having felt the earthquake at the time of publication on Thursday.
There were no tsunami warnings reported as of Thursday, according to Tsunami.gov. The 6.2-magnitude earthquake was the largest reported in Ovalle in the past 365 days and among five reported in the last month and 72 total in the past year according to EarthquakeTrack.com.
Chile is reported to have had three earthquake measuring 1.5-magnitude or greater in the past 24 hours; 12 in the past seven days; 38 in the last 30 days; and 586 in past 365 days, according to EarthquakeTrack.com. Earthquakes measured between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude can be felt by a large population, however, rarely results in much damage, according to Michigan Tech via the Sacramento Bee.
An estimated 500,000 detectable earthquakes are reported worldwide annually, however, around 100,000 are felt and only 100 typically result in serious damage. Officials strongly advise that anyone caught in an earthquake should drop, cover and hold on, according to the Sacramento Bee.