A monstrous 7.5-magnitude earthquake ripped through the Drake Passage early Friday morning, shaking the icy bottom of the globe and sending a chilling tsunami warning racing across southern Chile.
Sirens wailed. People ran. The southern cities of Punta Arenas, Puerto Williams, and even the Chilean Antarctic Territory were thrown into full-blown emergency mode.
According to Chile’s National Seismological Center, the quake struck at 6:22 AM local time, at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometers, triggering tsunami evacuation orders so fast, it made heads spin.
The epicenter? A remote patch of ocean about 218 kilometers south of Puerto Williams — so far south it’s practically brushing Antarctica. But don’t let the distance fool you. The danger was very real.
“The sea could rise at any moment — get to higher ground NOW!” barked emergency alerts as terrified locals grabbed children, pets, and whatever they could carry.
And let’s be clear: this wasn’t a drill.
“We felt the ground lurch under our feet — it was like the planet hiccupped,” said one shaken resident from Puerto Williams, quoted in El País.
Social media lit up with footage of families evacuating in pajamas, the skies still dark over Chile’s remote southern tip.
President Gabriel Boric, a native of the Magallanes region himself, immediately cancelled all official events, ordered crisis meetings, and activated the national emergency committee, COGRID.
“We are monitoring minute by minute,” Boric posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Please stay informed and follow instructions.”
Even the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center weighed in, warning of possible tsunami waves up to 1 meter in some areas.
So far, no casualties or major damage have been reported. But experts warn that shallow quakes like this one can be extremely dangerous, especially near coastal towns.
And the timing? Uncanny. This quake hit during the Día del Trabajador (Labor Day weekend), when locals were enjoying time off — until their peaceful morning turned into a full-scale emergency.
Shockwaves were even felt in Ushuaia, Argentina — the southernmost city in the world.
“This is one of the strongest quakes we’ve felt in years,” an Argentine official told HuffPost España.
Chile, known for its brutal seismic history, once again proved it’s sitting on a geological powder keg. But this time, it wasn’t the capital or central valleys — it was the forgotten frontier.
No deaths. No chaos. But one terrifying reminder: Earth doesn’t care how far away you live — when it moves, it MOVES.
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