Ushuaia (Argentina) (AFP) – A strong offshore earthquake caused a tsunami scare in the far south of Chile and Argentina on Friday, with authorities evacuating residents of coastal areas for hours before scaling back the threat level.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake struck in the Drake Passage between the southern tip of South America and Antarctica at a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).

The USGS put the magnitude at 7.4, slightly below the 7.5 reported by Chile’s National Seismological Center.

It struck at 9:58 am local time (1258 GMT), and several smaller aftershocks were also recorded, but there were no reports of injuries or material damage.

The epicenter was 219 kilometers from the city of Ushuaia in Argentina and a similar distance from the Chilean town of Puerto Williams.

Chile’s emergency agency Senapred issued a tsunami warning and ordered the evacuation of coastal areas of the remote southern Magallanes region.

But within two hours, the agency had lifted the evacuation order.

“The preventive evacuation is over. That means everyone can return and resume their activities,” Juan Carlos Andrade, Senapred’s director in Magallanes, said, while adding that fishing was suspended until further notice.

Situated at the southern tip of South America, the Magallanes region is Chile’s second largest but is sparsely populated.

It lies adjacent to Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego Province, home to Ushuaia, a major jump-off point for expeditions to the Antarctic.