海角大神

A powerful magnitude-8.2聽earthquake聽struck off聽Chile's聽northern coast Tuesday night, causing landslides that blocked roads and setting off a small tsunami that forced an evacuation of coastal areas, but the region apparently escaped major damage and casualties.

In the city of Arica, 86 miles from the quake's epicenter, minor injuries were reported and some homes made of adobe were destroyed, officials said. The quake shook modern buildings in nearby Peru and in Bolivia's high altitude capital of La Paz.

The US Geological Survey initially reported the quake at 8.0, but later upgraded the magnitude. It said the quake struck聽61 miles northwest of the Chilean city of Iquique at 8:46 p.m., hitting a region that has been rocked by numerous quakes over the past聽two weeks.

Psychiatrist Ricardo Yevenes said he was with a patient in Arica when the quake hit. "It quickly began to move the entire office, things were falling," he told local television. "Almost the whole city is in darkness."

The quake was so strong that the shaking experienced in Bolivia's capital about聽290 miles away was the equivalent of a 4.5-magnitude tremor, authorities there said.

At least聽10 strong aftershocks followed聽in the first few hours, including a聽6.2 tremor. More aftershocks and even a larger quake could not be ruled out, said seismologist Mario Pardo at the University of聽Chile.

Some roads in northern聽Chile聽were blocked by landslides, causing traffic jams among people leaving the coast. But coastal residents remained calm as they head inland while waves measuring almost聽2 meters聽(6 陆 feet) struck their cities.

Evacuations also were ordered in Peru, where waves聽2 meters聽above normal聽forced about聽200 people聽to leavethe seaside town of Boca del Rio. But there were no injuries or major damage, said Col. Enrique Blanco, the regional police chief in Tacna, a Peruvian city of聽300,000 near the Chilean聽border. "The lights went out briefly, but were re-established," Blanco said.

A tsunami alert was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for all of Latin America's Pacific coast.Chile's聽Emergency Office warned that a large tsunami wave was expected to hit Robinson Crusoe island and others in the Juan Fernandez archipelago, hundreds of miles off聽Chile's聽central coast. Residents there evacuated ahead of the first waves.聽Chile's聽Easter Island, much farther off in the Pacific, was expected to get hit after midnight Wednesday.

Authorities in the US state of Hawaii were on alert, but no tsunami watch was issued. The tsunami center said any higher waves would hit Hawaii starting 3:24 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time.

Chile聽is聽one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because just聽off the coast, the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.

The latest activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March聽16 that caused more聽than聽100,000 people to briefly聽evacuate low-lying areas. Hundreds of smaller quakes have followed in the weeks since, keeping people on edge as scientists said there was no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors was a harbinger of an impending disaster.

The last recorded big quake to hit far northern聽Chile聽around Iquique was a devastating magnitude-8.3 in聽1877. It unleashed an 80-foot-high tsunami, causing major damage along the Chile-Peru coast and fatalities as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

A magnitude-8.8 quake and ensuing聽tsunami in central聽Chile聽in聽2010 killed more than聽500 people, destroyed 220,000 homes, and washed away docks, riverfronts and seaside resorts. That quake released so much energy, it actually it shortened the Earth's day by a fraction of a second by changing the planet's rotation.

The strongest聽earthquake聽ever recorded on Earth also happened in聽Chile聽鈥� a magnitude-9.5 tremor in聽1960 that killed more聽than聽5,000 people.

Chile聽is the world's leading copper producing nation, and most of its mining industry is in the northern regions. Top mining companies said there was no serious damage to their operations so far.

Associated Press writers Eva Vergara in Santiago and Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

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