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A strong earthquake struck the Drake Passage region on Thursday (local time), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), which downgraded the intensity of the quake from magnitude 8 to 7.5.
While the US tsunami warning system did not issue any alert after the Drake Passage earthquake, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) briefly issued a warning for Chile, saying hazardous tsunami waves from the earthquake in Drake Passage are possible within the next three hours along some Chilean coasts.
Chile’s Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service also issued a precaution for the Chilean Antarctic territory.
The earthquake struck at a depth of 10.8 kilometres, according to the USGS data.
The German Research Center for Geosciences, however, measured the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1.
The Drake Passage, located between South America’s Cape Horn and the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica, is a deep and wide waterway that connects the southwestern Atlantic and southeastern Pacific Oceans.
The National Center for Seismology (NCS), meanwhile, said the earthquake was of magnitude 7.4 that struck at a depth of 36 kilometres at 7:46 am (IST).
In the early hours of July 30, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia’s Far East, causing tsunami waves to wash ashore in Japan and Alaska and calls for people around the Pacific to be on alert or move to higher ground.
The 8.8 magnitude prompted authorities to issue warnings in Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand, with officials cautioning that the potential tsunami danger may last for more than a day.