A strong earthquake registering a 7.9 on the Richter scale hit the northern mining region of Chile Monday evening. At least eight people were killed and many cities in the region were without power and telephone service. The quake was centered 70 miles northeast of the port city of Iquique.
The earthquake was felt in the Bolivian capital of La Paz and in southern parts of Peru. The Chilean coastal cities of Arica and Antofagasta were also affected by the quake.
Chilean authorities believed there was no chance of a tsunami resulting from this earthquake as the epicenter was in the mountains and not under the ocean.
'Police, fire and other civil protection agencies are in the area evaluating the situation,' Chile's national emergency center, ONEMI, said in a statement.
Codelco, Chile's state-owned mining company and the world's number one producer of copper indicated that its work was not interrupted by the natural disaster.
'Operations have not been stopped, they remain the same,' Codelco's headquarters told Reuters late Monday evening.
The earthquake took place at 6:44 PM local time. The death toll is expected to rise as investigators begin to assess the damage and look through buildings that were damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. Rescue and recovery operations were expected to continue for the next few days.
