Over 1,100 people have evacuated the tiny Chilean town of Puerto Williams after a tsunami alert. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
A tsunami warning has been issued for a remote region on the southern tip of Chile. Magallanes is the southernmost part of Chile, and also the least populated. It is comprised of four provinces: Última Esperanza, Magallanes, Antártica Chilena, and Tierra del Fuego, the latter of which has some obscenely good waves.
The tsunami warning came after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit a little over 130 miles off the coast of a resort town in Argentina called Ushuaia, which is located on the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, just a stone’s throw from the Chilean border. The earthquake began at around 2:00 a.m. local time in the Drake Passage between Cape Horn and Antarctica at a depth of around six miles.
“We call for evacuation of the coastline throughout the Magallanes region,” Chilean President Gabriel Boric wrote on social media. “At this time, our duty is to be prepared and heed the authorities. Regional and national COGRID (Cogrid of the Nationwide Risk Management System) are underway. All state resources are available.”
According to reports, the evacuation order is a precautionary measure in which residents are being asked to head to higher ground that is at least 100 feet above sea level. So far, a little over 1,100 residents have left the town of Puerto Williams.
We’ll have more on this story as it develops.
