Bolivia shaken by 6.2 earthquake

A 6.2 magnitude earthquake has hit near the Bolivian capital of La Paz but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The United States Geographical Survey (USGS) said the Tuesday quake’s epicenter was 533km underground and located around 60km southwest of Trinidad, the capital of Bolivia’s northern Beni region.

The USGS initially gave the quake a 6.7 magnitude but later revised its reading.

The quake was felt in major cities, including La Paz in the west, Santa Cruz in the east, and Cochabamba in the center of the Andean nation, local media said.

The private San Calixte observatory, the main seismological institute in Bolivia, said there were no immediate reports of harm caused by the quake, and local media said the same.

Officials in neighboring Chile said the quake was also felt in three northern regions, but again there were no reports of any significant consequences.

The strongest earthquake to strike Bolivia in modern times was an 8.2-magnitude temblor in 1994.