A strong earthquake struck the central zone of Chile on Thursday morning, with significant felt intensity in the Metropolitan Region. According to information from the University of Chile's Seismology Service consulted by the Argentine News Agency, the tremor occurred at 10:34 local time and had a magnitude of 6.1. The quake was registered 13 kilometers west of Punitaqui, at a depth of 54 km. The epicenter's exact location was at latitude -30.78 and longitude -71.61, meaning the event occurred near the Fray Jorge National Nature Reserve. To date, no material damage or victims have been reported in the affected area. Initial reports indicate the phenomenon was felt between the Atacama and Ñuble regions. Meanwhile, the National Service for Disaster Prevention and Response clarified that “the characteristics of the quake do not meet the necessary conditions to generate a tsunami on the coast of Chile.” In Argentina, the movement was felt in provinces bordering the Andes Mountains, such as San Juan and Mendoza, as reported by the National Seismic Prevention Institute (Inpres). The novelty of this event was that the earthquake was alerted several seconds in advance via mobile phones through Google's alert system. This system uses the accelerometers of Android devices to detect the vibration and speed of movements from an earthquake, thus warning users in nearby areas, a topic that was widely discussed on social media throughout Thursday.
