The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally issued a tsunami watch for Hawaii but downgraded the alert to an advisory.

The quake had a shallow depth of 11km and hit at 7.54pm (22:54 GMT), with the epicenter located about 500 km north of the capital Santiago, seismologists at the University of Chile said.

Chile has been rocked by a powerful 8.3-magnitude quake , causing widespread panic throughout the capital Santiago and triggering a tsunami alert.

Chile is no stranger to earthquakes.

More than a million people were forced from their homes as the government ordered the evacuation of coastal areas. NTWC said tsunami waves of less than 1 foot above normal tide levels were measured as far north as Crescent City, Calif.

Chile has been hit by two new earthquakes of magnitudes 6 and 6.3 early Saturday, just as the country recovers from an quake that left over a dozen dead and millions evacuated.

Five people died and one person was listed as missing, said Mahmud Aleuy, the interior ministry’s deputy secretary.

Chile was also the site of a magnitude-9.5 natural disaster in 1960, the most powerful ever recorded anywhere in the world.

According to a report by tempo.co, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had previously stated that the quake could potentially cause tsunamis across adjacent oceans, included in Chile, French Polynesia, Mexico, Equador, Antarctica and Japan. The United States Geological Survey said the area west of Santiago had experienced about 40 aftershocks since the initial quake, most recently a 5.5-magnitude temblor off the shores of Coquimbo just after 10 a.m. EDT. No injuries were reported outside of Chile. Minor tremors were felt as far away as Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. The navy said the northern port city of Coquimbo had been hit by waves as tall as 15 feet, and fishing vessels washed up onto the streets.

“Everything is a mess”, restaurant owner Melisa Pinones told Reuters from the city of Illapel.