Chilean authorities have apologized for spreading panic with the wrong tsunami warning, according to reports.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Antarctica occurred on Saturday at 8:36 pm local time, northeast of a Chilean scientific base.
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Chile’s Ministry of Interior sent a warning that coastal regions in Antarctica should be evacuated due to the risk of a tsunami, but the message was also sent to cell phones across Chile, asking people to leave coastal areas, according to Reuters .
The ministry later said the message was sent in error.
“We want to give the population peace of mind, to tell them that it is not necessary to evacuate the entire national territory, only the Antarctic base,” Miguel Ortiz, of the Ministry’s National Emergency Office, told a news conference.
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The agency regretted that the message caused both panic and disorder.
Chilean mining regulator Sernageomin said that after the earthquake, 80 people were evacuated from the main Antarctic base and 80 others from three other bases, according to the New Strait Times.
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Residents of the Chilean coastal cities of La Serena and Valparaiso began to leave their homes after receiving the cell phone alert. After they learned that the warning was an error, another quake hit the Chile-Argentina border region.
No damage was reported in any of the earthquakes.