SANTIAGO.- The series of tremors that have been felt recently throughout the center of the country reportedly are aftershocks from yesterday's earthquake, which reached a magnitude of 5.9 degrees with an epicenter located to the west of Papudo— and not a seismic swarm.

This was the indication given by the head of the Seismological Service for the Universidad de Chile, Carlos Aranda, who stated that the shaking can be expected to last for at least a month and indicated that, due to the nature of the tremors, they will be of a lower intensity than that of the main seismic event.

"The shaking has been limited to a very specific area to the west of Papudo. This is the main seismic event with aftershocks, that is how we have defined it", stated Aranda.

Aranda explained that the aftershocks "are new earthquakes that are being produced in the area and will accompany the phenomenon for a period of time that is impossible to determine and depends a bit on the characteristics of the process dynamics".

Nevertheless, Aranda also stated that after an earthquake that is 6 degrees on the Richter scale, "aftershocks can be expected to last for a month or longer" and added that the majority would go unnoticed by people.