Videos on social media showed people calmly evacuating as sirens blared in the background. Chile’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service estimated that waves will reach bases in Antarctica and cities in Chile’s extreme south in the coming hours.
Chile’s Antarctic institute told Reuters that bases were being evacuated.
In the Argentine city of Ushuaia, considered the world’s southernmost, local authorities suspended all types of water activities and navigation in the Beagle Channel for at least three hours. No material damage or evacuations were reported.
“The earthquake was felt primarily in the city of Ushuaia and, to a lesser extent, in towns across the province,” the local government reported. “In the face of these types of events, it is important to remain calm.”
The USGS said the quake’s epicentre was under the ocean 219km south of Ushuaia.
Residents of the remote southern Argentine village of Puerto Almanza were ordered to evacuate the area.
“Residents of the Puerto Almanza area, located approximately 75km from Ushuaia on the eastern coast of the Beagle Channel, are asked to preventively evacuate the area and move to higher, safer ground,” the government of Tierra del Fuego province wrote on its X account.
