Strong earthquake hits deep underneath northern Argentina < br />

2012-05-29 01:10:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

SANTIAGO DEL ESTERO, ARGENTINA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck deep underneath northern Argentina on early Monday morning, causing no damage or casualties, seismologists and local officials said. Deep earthquakes regularly hit the region.

The 6.4-magnitude earthquake at 2:07 a.m. local time (0507 GMT) was centered about 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) southeast of Suncho Corral, a small village about 100 kilometers (62 miles) southeast of Santiago del Estero. It struck about 662 kilometers (411 miles) deep, making it a deep earthquake, according to the country's National Institute of Seismic Prevention (INPRES).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the tremor at 6.7 on the moment magnitude scale, said 3.6 million people may have felt very weak shaking. Authorities in the region said they had received no reports of damage or injuries, and most people did not notice the earthquake due to its depth.

Northern Argentina is regularly struck by deep earthquakes. In September 2011, a strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck the same region at a depth of 592 kilometers (368 miles), also causing no damage. It followed a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake in January 2011, again causing no damage.

In February 2010, a child and an elderly man were killed when a wall collapsed as a result of a shallow 6.3-magnitude earthquake which struck about 20 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Salta, the capital city of Salta Province in Argentina. Several others were injured in the quake.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-05-29

Still baffled as to why this is news.

Earthquake happens, no damage, no casualties and barely anyone felt it.

The seismographs would have picked it up but quakes that deep are hardly newsworthy.

That part of Argentina has regular very deep quakes and nothing untoward has yet happened. See map below, the dots are the quake events since 1990, the star the most recent one and the colour indicates a depth >500kms.

http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_b000a172_h.html