05/05/2022
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake and several aftershocks have rattled Chile, triggering panic as authorities issued a nationwide tsunami alert while only seeking to evacuate the country’s largest research station in Antarctica.
The strongest of over half a dozen jolts struck South Shetland Islands 216 kilometers northeast of Chile’s O’Higgins scientific base at 8:36pm, while another 5.8 quake shook the Chile-Argentina border region close to the capital, Santiago around 30 minutes later.
While the warning was only meant for the coastal regions of Antarctica, people all across Chile received messages urging them to abandon coastal areas due to a tsunami threat, triggering much confusion.