A strong earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck southern Chile Wednesday, jolting the regions of O'Higgins, Maule, Biobio and La Araucania.

No injuries or material damage have been reported as yet. The quake was not very deep, registering only 22.2 km below ground. The Chilean navy's oceanography service said there was no threat of a tsunami as a result of the quake.

The University of Chile's Seismological Service said the quake occurred at 3:28 pm local time (18:28 GMT) and was centered 119 km west of Cobquecura, Biobio, and 700 km south of the capital Santiago.

Chile's Onemi, the national emergency office, said "There have been no reports of injuries to people, disruption of basic services or damage to infrastructure due to the quake."

Cobquecura was the epicenter of a destructive 8.8-magnitude quake in February 2010, which left 526 people dead.