Series of Earthquakes hit Venezuela, Chile

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Great Earthquakes In Diverse Places

Series of Earthquakes hit Venezuela, Chile

  2010-07-07 08:32:11

CARACAS, July 6 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake measuring 5.0 degrees on the Richter scale hit on Tuesday Venezuela's Sucre state and there were no reports of casualties or material damage, the head of Venezuela's Foundation of Seismologic Investigations said.

Francisco Garces told state-run Venezolana de Television that the earthquake occurred at 9:17 a.m. local time (1347 GMT), some 32 kilometers south of Guiria in Sucre, 400 kilometers east of Caracas.

Garces said that security institutions are on alert for the earthquake, which was followed minutes later by an aftershock of 2.8 degrees.

Garces discarded the possibility of an eventual tsunami.

Also on Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 5.4 degrees on the Richter scale hit the regions of Maule and Bio Bio in the center-south region of Chile, without causing casualties or material damage.

The earthquake occurred at 9:54 a.m. local time (1354 GMT), with its epicenter located near Cauquenes in Maule and its focus 46.3 kilometers below ground, the Seismology Service of the University of Chile said.

Maule and Bio Bio were worst hit in the Feb. 27 8.8-magnitude earthquake, followed by a tsunami. The quake left at least 500 people dead,thousands of others injured and losses of some 30 billion U.S. dollars.