Photo: USGS
A 6.6-magnitude earthquake was reported along the South Shetland Islands on Friday (March 20), according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake was centered at a depth of 4.9 kilometers (about 3.0 miles) at 12:22 a.m. UTC. The USGS said it received zero reports of people having felt the earthquake at the time of publication on Friday.
There are currently no tsunami warnings, according to Tsunami.gov. A 5.1-magnitude aftershock was reported about an hour and seven minutes after the initial 6.6-magnitude earthquake.
The 6.6-magnitude earthquake was the largest reported near the South Shetland Islands in the past month and was among two in the past 24 hours; two in the past seven days; three in the past 30 days; and the 28 in the past 365 days among earthquakes measuring at 1.5-magnitude or greater, according to EarthquakeTrack.com.
Earthquakes measured between 2.5 and 5.4 magnitude can be felt by a large population, however, rarely results in much damage, according to Michigan Tech via the Sacramento Bee. An estimated 500,000 detectable earthquakes are reported worldwide annually, however, around 100,000 are felt and only 100 typically result in serious damage.
Officials strongly advise that anyone caught in an earthquake should drop, cover and hold on, according to the Sacramento Bee.