Chile's freshly inaugurated president Sebastian Pinera said a series of aftershocks today caused "significant damage" in Rancagua, a city almost 100 km (62 miles) south of the capital.
There were no initial reports of fatalities. Mr Pinera said he expected to have more complete reports later in the day on the impact of the 6.9 magnitude aftershock, which hit just moments before he was sworn in as president.
The aftershock was centered about 77 miles (124 km) west-southwest of Santiago and was measured at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 km), USGS said.
A second aftershock occured minutes later in the Chilean capital.
Chile was hit by an 8.8-magnitude earthquake on February 27th that killed more than 750 people.
Reuters
