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By EVA VERGARA 03/25/12 10:09 PM ET AP


SANTIAGO, Chile --- A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck central Chile
Sunday night, the strongest and longest that many people said they had
felt since a huge quake devastated the area two years ago. Some people
were injured by falling ceiling material, but there were no immediate
reports of major damage or deaths due to quake-related accidents.


The quake struck at 7:30 p.m. about 16 miles (27 kilometers)
north-northwest of Talca, a city of more than 200,000 people where
residents said the shaking lasted about a minute.


Buildings swayed in Chile's capital 136 miles (219 kilometers) to the
north, and people living along a 480-mile (770-kilometer) stretch of
Chile's central coast were briefly warned to head for higher ground.


Residents were particularly alarmed in Constitucion, where much of the
coastal downtown at the mouth of a river was obliterated by the tsunami
caused by the 8.8-magnitude quake in 2010.


Panic also struck in Santiago and other cities, with people running out
of skyscrapers, and many neighborhoods were left partly or totally
without electrical power. Phone service collapsed due to heavy traffic.


"There are some injuries but nothing serious," said Interior Minister
Rodrigo Hinzpeter, who was serving as acting president while Sebastian
Pinera is on tour in Asia.


Hinzpeter said authorities were conducting a thorough survey of the
affected regions to look for damage.


The Chilean navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service and the
national emergency office called off a tsunami warning for most of the
central coast after an analysis showed the quake wasn't the type to
provoke killer waves.


The alert was restored for the area closest to the epicenter after
police noticed the ocean had retreated about 130 feet (40 meters) from
the shore in the towns of Iloca and Duao. A sharp outsurge of surf
sometimes is followed by a tsunami.


Many coastal residents were staying away from the shore in any case,
remembering how the government said there would be no tsunami just
before huge waves struck after the 2010 quake, killing 156 of the 524
victims of that disaster.


With aftershocks rattled the region, many people living inland didn't
want to go back inside their homes, either.


In Parral, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of the capital, Mayor
Israel Urrutia said a 74-year-old woman died of a heart attack during
the quake, and he blamed it on the shaking.


State television reported that parts of the ceiling fell from a church
in Maipu, west of Santiago, slightly injuring some parishioners. Similar
problems were reported with the roof of a shopping mall in La Florida,
south of the capital.


State copper giant Codelco said its mines were functioning normally.


The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred 19 miles (30
kilometers) deep.


It was the second significant quake in as many days for central Chile,
where people were shaken awake Saturday morning by a 5.1-magnitude
temblor that caused no major damage or injuries even though its
epicenter was in metropolitan Santiago.


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