An earthquake of 6.4 degrees on the Richter scale was recorded in San Juan: it was felt in Córdoba and Mendoza

An earthquake of 6.4 degrees on the Richter scale was registered during the night of this Monday in the province of San Juan and it was also felt with different intensity in Córdoba and Mendoza.

As reported by the National Institute for Seismic Prevention (INPRES), the phenomenon reached its maximum intensity at 11:46:22 p.m. and had a depth of 8 kilometers, while its epicenter was 57 kilometers southwest of the local capital.

The earthquake generated great concern among the citizens of San Juan, who were surprised by the situation. As reported by some users on social networks, in various parts of the province there were power cuts.

After the main earthquake, there were a series of aftershocks, although of lesser magnitude, of 4.4, 4.9 and 4.1 degrees on the Richter scale, successively, which during the early hours of Tuesday affected the city of San Juan and the towns of Caucete, Mirayes, Barreal and the Media Agua Valley, according to INPRES.

“At this moment I want to transmit calm to the families, after the earthquake that we have experienced in San Juan. Let’s put into practice all the measures that we have learned to prevent incidents, while we are committed to knowing the impact of the same to collaborate in everything necessary “, said the local governor, Sergio Uñac.

Even, a strong echo was registered in Santiago de Chile, mainly between the Atacama and Maule regions, although the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Navy (SHOA) from that country reported that the characteristics of the movement “do not meet the conditions to decree a tsunami alert on the coasts.”

In dialogue with TN, Miguel Castro, from the Mendoza Seismological Center “it really has been an earthquake” and pointed out that it was similar to the one that happened in 1977 in the San Juan city of Caucete, although he clarified that on this occasion it occurred “in an area where there are a series of active faults that they belong to the Pie de Palo Valley, which is very active ”.

“A fault that rises to the surface is also very close and is located in the San Juan River. In other words, the province has these very active faults in this region. It is practically in the town of Pocitos, which is inhabited, “he warned.

In addition, the expert explained that “The magnitude being so great and the depth so small, it is that it has been perceived with such intensity”, added to the fact that “seismic waves travel many kilometers”.

On the other hand, Castro specified that “It is probable that the buildings in the area have suffered several deteriorations”, although he clarified that at this moment “the conditions are not in place to make a count of the damaged buildings. He also stressed that “you have to be very careful with replicas.”

For his part, during an interview on the same channel the journalist Nicolas TillardHe said: “I am on vacation in Córdoba and I am on a ninth floor, on the ravine. I have never experienced a similar situation. It’s tremendous, it lasted almost a minute. I was in bed and saw the spider and the television move. We got down the openings, which is what we have to do ”.

An earthquake or earthquake is a sudden breaking of the rocks inside the Earth. This rupture generates energy that propagates in the form of waves and causes the ground to move..

In Argentina, they are produced by the contact of the Nazca Plate with the South American Plate. They occur more frequently in the provinces located to the west of our region: Mendoza, San Juan, Catamarca, La Rioja, Salta and Jujuy But no part of the country is exempt from this phenomenon.

Last November, a similar phenomenon affected the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, although in that case it was magnitude 5.9 on the Richter seismological scale. According to the information reported by INPRES at that time, the event occurred at 1:40 p.m. on a Sunday and the epicenter was located 106 km north of San Salvador de Jujuy and 177 km north of the city of Salta, 34 km east of Humahuaca, where local people turned to social networks to share images and videos of landslides in areas of mountains and hills. The shaking would have lasted several seconds.

At the same time, the entity specified that the depth of the seismic movement was 17 kilometersTherefore, the perception of the earthquake reached the capitals of the Argentine northwestern provinces.

At 15:46 Argentine time, Alarms sounded at the International Atomic Energy Agency -he same organism as he pointed the place and magnitude of the “event” suffered by the ARA San Juan in the depths of the ocean– indicating an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, in the vicinity of Humahuaca.

According to local media, the hills suffered a landslide that caused large clouds of earth. The images of several well-known walks are viralized on the networks. Yacoraite, Huacalera and Uquía were some of the areas hit by the earthquake.

Several landslides occurred in the mountainous areas. Therefore, Civil Defense committees had to work in private homes of houses that are far from urban centers.