Washington: A strong earthquake shook the southeastern Pacific on Wednesday, about 570 kilometers (354 miles) south of Chile`s Easter Island, the US Geological Survey said.

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The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii, said that the quake, which hit at 0214 GMT at 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep, registered as a 6.8 before upgrading it to a 7.2.

"An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 occurred near the southern East Pacific rise at 0215 UTC (GMT) Thursday, October 9 2014," a statement from the Pacific center said. 

"There is no tsunami threat from this earthquake," it added.

The US Geological Survey said the tremblor registered as a 6.8.

Chile is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, and is located in the so-called Ring of Fire area of the Pacific Ocean basin.

An 8.2-magnitude quake in northern Chile in April killed six people and forced a million to flee their homes in the region around Iquique.

And a February 27, 2010 quake that struck just off the coast of Chile`s Maule region measured 8.8 in magnitude, making it one of the largest ever recorded.

It killed more than 500 people and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in damages.