The US Geological Survey said Friday's quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 and was centered near Copiapo, 600 km north of the capital of Santiago. It struck at 11:52 a.m. local time.

The temblor happened far away from the epicenter of last month's devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake and subsequent tsunami, which claimed 452 lives, destroyed $8 billion worth of homes, schools and hospitals, and cost nearly $1 billion in road damages.

That quake was centered 325 km southwest of Santiago and just 115 km from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city.