A powerful earthquake hit central-northern Chile on Wednesday afternoon, shaking buildings as far away as the capital, Santiago, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Initial reports suggested spotty damage near the epicenter, but there was no word yet on injuries.

The quake, a magnitude 6.8, struck at a depth of 28.4 miles, 63 miles southwest of mining town Copiapo and 364 miles north of Santiago at 5:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. ET), the USGS said.

Employees reached by phone at the Diego de Almagro Hotel in downtown Copiapo, Chile, said there is damage in the city, including some collapsed homes, but they had no news of injuries.

"We felt it hard and then panic spread," said hotel owner Atilio Bianchi.

Diego de Almagro, the largest hotel in the city, suffered only minor damage, and no one there was hurt, according to Leonor, a front desk clerk.

"It was scary when the furniture started moving," she said.

In February 2010, a massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit just off the coast of central-southern Chile, triggering a tsunami that devastated several coastal communities and killed hundreds of people. The wave caused damage as far away as San Diego, Calif., and Tohoku, Japan.

Wednesday's quake did not match the conditions needed to cause a tsunami in the Pacific, Reuters reported.

Copiapo became the focus of global attention in October 2010, when 33 miners were trapped for 70 days in a nearby copper mine before an international team was able to rescue them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Kyodo / Reuters file

The tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant No.3 reactor building is seen from atop of No.4 building in Fukushima prefecture on Oct. 7.

Nearly two years after a massive earthquake and tsunami caused meltdowns at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan is failing to keep a pledge to tap global expertise to decommission its crippled reactors, executives at nuclear contractors from the United States and Europe say.

The result, they warn, is that a process expected to take more than 30 years and cost at least $15 billion could take longer and cost more as contracts are channeled through domestic heavyweights such as nuclear reactor makers Toshiba Corp and Hitachi Ltd, and general contractors such as Taisei Corp.

A review of bidding records by Reuters shows companies from outside Japan have failed to win any of the 21 contracts awarded this year to develop technologies crucial for the unprecedented job of scrapping the four damaged reactors at Fukushima.

"There appears to be a desire to treat this as a science project and reinvent the wheel," Jeffrey Merrifield, senior vice president of U.S. nuclear engineering firm Shaw Group Inc's power division told Reuters.

Contracts awarded since January represent only the initial work at Fukushima. But a half-dozen executives at companies with nuclear industry experience raised questions about the Japanese government's and Tepco's oversight of the process.

Some executives worry that being shut out now risks their ability to tap a growth market, since Japan could scrap dozens of reactors over the coming decades. Most asked not be named for fear of jeopardizing their ability to win future work in Japan.

Takuya Hattori, president of the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, a group representing the nuclear industry in Japan, said the government has not been responsive to complaints about the bidding process. "They are shutting that criticism out incredibly deftly," said Hattori, a 36-year veteran of Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc, the operator of the Fukushima plant.

Fukushima: Before, during and after

Slideshow: Then and now: The 2011 Japan tsunami

A 9.0 earthquake on March 11 triggered a 45-foot tsunami that smashed into the 40-year-old seaside Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, setting off a series of events that caused its reactors to start melting down.

Hydrogen explosions scattered debris across the complex and sent up a plume of radioactive steam that forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 residents near the plant about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.

The repeated failures that dogged the government and Tepco in the months after the disaster undercut confidence in their response to the disaster and dismayed outside experts, given corporate Japan's reputation for relentless organization.

After that, Japan promised to accept more outside assistance.

Cold Shutdown
The Fukushima plant was declared to be in "cold shutdown" a year ago, a stable phase when water used to cool fuel rods remains below its boiling point. That marked the start of a decommissioning process that could take 40 years.

Under a roadmap drafted by Tepco, radioactive fuel rods will be removed from Reactor No. 4 starting next November. After that, melted fuel inside three other reactors damaged by meltdowns and hydrogen explosions would be extracted. The work is projected to take more than a decade.

A government oversight panel has estimated it will cost $15 billion to decommission the reactors, not counting the costs of disposing of radioactive waste.

But large uncertainties hang over the overall cost of the disaster. Tepco recently said compensation for evacuated residents and decontamination of areas outside the boundary of the Fukushima plant could double from previous estimates to almost $125 billion.

Louisiana-based Shaw Group worked on clean-up projects after the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents and in decommissioning eight U.S. commercial reactors.

"There seems to be a real desire to rely on Japanese contractors to do this work," Merrifield said. "You can try and do it all yourself, which takes a lot more time without benefit of prior experience, making a lot of mistakes along the way."

But an executive with a Japanese nuclear firm said that given the long-term nature of the clean-up project, it makes sense to go with firms at home.

"Foreign firms simply sell their product without providing back-up services or maintenance. We can't sign a contract with a company that we can't get in touch with immediately and one that will rush to deal with any problems right away," the executive said.

Transparency: 'No. 1 priority'
The majority of contracts for Fukushima have been awarded directly by Tepco, which outsources decontamination and debris-clearing to general contractors. Decontamination contracts outside of the plant site are handled by Japan's environment ministry and local governments.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has so far allocated about $11 million to Toshiba Corp, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Hitachi GE Nuclear to fund technology development for the year to March. That includes a project to develop sensing robots that can enter highly radiated areas to pinpoint the site of the meltdown.

"This is a project we are pursuing with taxpayer funds, so we believe it is our No. 1 priority to be transparent," said Kentaro Funaki, director of the ministry's nuclear accident restoration office.

Funaki said METI was pushing to double the bidding period to four weeks and pointed to a recent contract offered by Japanese radiation management firm Atox Co Ltd specifically to foreign contractors as a sign of increased openness.

METI and the heavy manufacturers held workshops in March and April to gather information on foreign technology that could be used at Fukushima.

British Amec PLC, Areva, Westinghouse and the Idaho National Laboratory pitched technologies that can be used to remotely inspect and repair damaged reactors.

Japan's three major nuclear companies say they post notices of bids on their websites.

Hitachi GE Nuclear posts bid notices on its website in both English and Japanese. The company said it was working as quickly as possible to restore and rebuild Fukushima and the short bidding periods were not designed to shut out foreign firms.

Toshiba said it posted contracts on its website, but deletes them after a vendor is selected. Contracts are awarded by an outside panel of experts with the highest score given to technology and cost. Toshiba declined to comment on the lack of foreign involvement in research contracts.

Mitsubishi Heavy recently posted a notice on its website that it would soon invite bids for equipment to investigate the pressure containment vessels at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

'Doors are open'
Japan's government and Tepco have emphasized the importance of international involvement in the Fukushima clean-up. In an interview with Reuters in October, Tepco president Naomi Hirose said the utility was seeking expertise from all over the world.

To be sure, U.S. and European companies have had some success.

California-based Kurion and French nuclear giant Areva designed the first water purification systems at Fukushima. That was followed by equipment supplied by Toshiba and Shaw that doubled Tepco's ability to process contaminated water. The latest water purification equipment made by Toshiba and Utah-based Energy Solutions was installed earlier this year.

"I would tell you that if the roles were reversed, Americans would want American firms leading the way," said John Raymont, president and CEO of Kurion. "For companies that have the special know-how that is transferable, the doors are open."

Shaw's Merrifield said his company was no longer working on any projects in Fukushima. Shaw sold its stake in nuclear plant company Westinghouse Electric Co to Toshiba for $1.6 billion in October.

Many of Japan's 50 nuclear plants are expected to be decommissioned in the coming years. The Japanese government has pledged to eliminate nuclear power from the energy mix by the 2030s and popular opinion is turning against the industry.

"At the end of the day, it's not about just Fukushima," said one executive at an overseas engineering company, who asked not to be named because of the company's business interests in Japan. "You get in now, establish a relationship and build trust and there is a lot of work that you can do."

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Updated at 12:10 a.m. ET: A strong earthquake, followed by two milder shocks, rocked central Myanmar on Sunday morning, and at least one person was reported to have died.

USGS

A USGS map shows the location of a 6.6 magnitude earthquake Sunday morning in Myanmar.

The U.S. Geographical Survey said the epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude temblor that hit at 7:42 a.m. local time was about 17 miles east of Shwebo, or 72 miles northwest of Mandalay, and six miles underground. The USGS revised the magnitude up from 6.6.

Two milder quakes estimated at 5.0 magnitude struck about 20 minutes later about 50 miles northwest of Mandalay, USGS reported.

A police officer in Shwebo told Reuters that one woman had died and 10 people had been injured in Kyauk Myaung.

The website of Weekly Eleven magazine said five people were killed in the collapse of a bridge under construction over the Irrawaddy River in Shwebo, The Associated Press reported.

"This is the worst earthquake I felt in my entire life," said Soe Soe, a 52-year-old Shwebo resident.

According to Soe Soe, the huge concrete gate of a monastery collapsed and several sculptures from another pagoda were damaged in the town.

Residents from Mandalay, the second biggest commercial city in central Myanmar, told Reuters that they felt a very strong tremor.

"I've never felt such strong tremor. I also heard some loud noises and the light went out. No idea about the damage,'' a resident said.

There were no reports of casualties or major damage in Mandalay.

Residents in Bangkok, the capital of neighboring Thailand, also said they felt the quake.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue any tsunami warnings.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

President Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first American president to visit Myanmar during a Nov. 17-20 tour of Southeast Asia that will include Thailand and Cambodia, the White House said Thursday.

The quake was initially estimated at 7.0 magnitude but was revised lower by the USGS.

The USGS said much of the population exposed to the earthquake lives in structures vulnerable to shaking. The area has been subject to secondary effects of temblors such as landslides. 

This article includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

A girls looks inside a house damaged by an earthquake on the eve in San Marcos, 260 km from Guatemala City, on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, a day after a 7.4-magnitude hit off the Pacific coast of the country.

Updated 5:25 p.m. ET

SAN MARCOS, Guatemala — Guatemalans fearing aftershocks huddled in the dark and frigid streets of this mountain town wrapped in blankets early Thursday, while others crowded inside its hospital, the only building left with electricity after a powerful earthquake killed at least 52 people and left dozens more missing.

Crews worked through the night in San Marcos, searching rubble for survivors and more dead following the magnitude 7.4 quake that struck Wednesday near Guatemala's border with Mexico.

Local Red Cross chief Carlos Enrique Alvarado told Reuters 75 homes were destroyed in San Marcos alone and authorities said damage to the prison forced them to transfer 101 inmates to another jail. Officials told The Associated Press that most of 100 missing were from San Marcos.

The quake, which was 20 miles deep, was centered 15 miles off the coastal town of Champerico and 100 miles southwest of Guatemala City. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Guatemala since a 1976 temblor that killed 23,000.

PhotoBlog: Desperate search continues for quake survivors in Guatemala

In the town of San Cristobal Cochu, firefighters picked at a collapsed house trying to dig out 10 members of one family, including a 4-year-old child, who were buried, fire department spokesman Ovidio Perez told the radio station Emisoras Unidas.

Volunteers carrying boxes of medical supplies began arriving in the area in western Guatemalan late Wednesday.

Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

A firefighter looks bodies of people who died in the earthquake that hit San Marcos, Guatemala, on Wednesday.

Eblin Cifuentes, a 26-year-old law student, and a group of his classmates already were collecting medical supplies as part of a school drive to provide aid for the only hospital in San Marcos, a poor, mainly indigenous mountain area of subsistence farms. When the quake hit, the group decided to bring everything they had collected.

"Thank God nothing happened to us and that's why we have to help out," Cifuentes told the AP.

Deadly quake rocks Guatemala, is felt in Mexico City

Rescue workers in bright yellow helmets worked through the night pulling bodies from the rubble-strewn streets of San Pedro Sacatepequez, San Marcos, as dazed locals looked on, taking stock of the damage.

"Thank God we're alive," resident Arnulfo Portillo told Reuters. "To be honest, there's quite a few families who have been hit badly, but we're a tight-knight community and we'll come out on top."

Hundreds of frightened townspeople stayed in the open, refusing to go back inside after more than five strong aftershocks shook the area.

President Otto Perez Molina said that 40 people died in the state of San Marcos and eight more were killed in the neighboring state of Quetzaltenango.

PhotoBlog: Wrecked buildings, crushed cars and rescues

Mom: 'He's not dead. Get him out'
Hundreds of people crammed into the hallways of San Marcos' small hospital after the quake seeking help for injured family members. Some complained they were not getting care quickly enough.

Ingrid Lopez, who bought in a 72-year-old aunt whose legs were crushed by a falling wall, said she had waited hours for an X-ray. "We ask the president to improve conditions at the hospital," she told the AP. "There isn't enough staff."

More than 300 firefighters, policemen and civilians dug desperately at a half-ton mound of sand at a quarry trying to rescue seven people believed buried alive. Among those under the sand was a 6-year-old boy who had accompanied his grandfather to work.

"I want to see Giovanni! I want to see Giovanni!" the boy's mother, 42-year-old Francisca Ramirez, frantically cried. "He's not dead. Get him out."

By Wednesday night, firefighters had dug out two bodies from the quarry, including Giovanni.

President Perez flew to San Marcos to view the damage in this lush mountainous region of 50,000 indigenous farmers and ranchers, many belonging to the Mam ethnic group.

"One thing is to hear about what happened and another thing entirely is to see it," he told The Associated Press. "As a Guatemalan I feel sad ... to see mothers crying for their lost children."

Perez said the government would pay for the funerals of all victims in the impoverished region.

Girl died while playing
Efrain Ramos helped load a tiny casket carrying the body of his 6-year-old niece from San Marcos' morgue to a waiting pickup truck.

"The little girl died when a wall fell over her," a shocked Ramos told a reporter. He said the girl was playing in her room when the quake hit.

Sobbing uncontrollably, the girl's mother hugged the coffin wrapped with white lace and tulle.

The quake caused terror over an unusually wide area, with damage reported in all but one of Guatemala's 22 states and shaking felt as far away as Mexico City, 600 miles to the northwest.

In Guatemala City, 100 miles from the quake's epicenter, the streets filled with office workers forced to evacuate buildings, although most soon returned to work.

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Eduardo Verdugo / AP

People who work in office buildings along El Paseo de la Reforma stand outside Wednesday after evacuating their offices due to a Gautemala-centered earthquake felt in Mexico City.

Updated at 9:21 p.m. ET: A deadly earthquake off the Pacific coast of Guatemala on Wednesday has killed at least 48 people in two provinces, collapsed buildings, spurred landslides and rattled cities as far away as San Salvador and Mexico City.

Guatemala President Otto Perez Molina told an afternoon news conference that the dead are in the northwestern state of San Marcos near the Mexican border, where the majority of the damage occurred.

Earlier, he also said 100 people were missing and 76,000 were without electric power, NBC News reported.

Landslides blocked roads in some areas, authorities told Reuters, and about 40 houses were severely damaged.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-7.4 quake struck 28 miles southwest of Champerico, Guatemala, near the border with Mexico. The epicenter was 25 miles below the surface.

CONRED, the government office for reduction of disasters in Guatemala, told NBC News an aerial evaluation of affected neighborhoods was being carried out amid reports of walls collapsing in homes and the loss of power and telephone services.

The manager of the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel in the capital, Guatemala City, told NBC News that she felt a "strong earthquake" but that the building had sustained no damage and guests were returning to their rooms.

A Reuters witness in Guatemala City said people were evacuating homes in parts of the capital, and firefighters and rescue workers were on alert. Office workers were also evacuating buildings in Mexico City and in the capital of the Mexican state of Chiapas, across the border from Guatemala.

"It was really big, I felt quite nauseous,'' secretary Vanessa Castillo, 32, who was evacuated from her 10th-floor office in Guatemala City, told Reuters.

Building janitor Jorge Gamboa said, "I was in the bathroom. When I came out the office was empty and I thought, 'what's happening? They didn't even say goodbye.'''

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a possibility of a local tsunami, within 100 or 200 miles of the epicenter, but they were not issuing an immediate warning for the broader region.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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