Photo credit: US Geological Survey

A strong earthquake of magnitude 6-point-9 struck off the west coast of Chile on Monday rocking the capital Santiago and briefly causing alarm along the pacific coast.

Residents scrambled for higher ground, remembering the lessons of the country’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2010.

Calm was soon restored as the quake-prone nation was spared of any serious damage.

The Chilean Navy and the pacific tsunami warning centre said the quake was not expected to cause a tsunami.

The initial assessment by Chile’s emergency services was that the quake appeared to have caused no major damage.

Tags: Chile's coast, Magnitude 6.9 quake