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Lives were saved because of Chile's strict building codes, which means newer buildings are able to withstand strong quakes
The massive 8.3 earthquake that shook central Chile for three minutes on Wednesday was the strongest earthquake in the world this year and the biggest to hit Chile since 2010.
The death toll of 12 was relatively low given the magnitude of the quake.
The Chilean government swiftly ordered evacuations from coastal areas after the earthquake hit, seeking to avoid a repeat of a quake disaster in 2010 when authorities were slow to warn of a tsunami and hundreds were killed.
Around one million people were evacuated, allowing residents enough time to evacuate their homes and seek higher, safer ground.
It's a drill Chileans have practised many times before, and it helped save lives this time around, according to Margareta Wahlstrom, head of the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
"Early warnings have been very effective in saving lives and the country's mechanism for ensuring compliance with building codes has also paid dividends," Wahlstrom said in a statement earlier this week.
"The evacuation of one million people ensured that there was no repetition of the loss of life which happened five years ago when 523 people died."
For older Chileans, memories of the massive, 9.5 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Chile in 1960 are still vivid. The quake was the strongest recorded in modern history and killed around 2,000 people.
Schools in Chile teach pupils about what to do during an earthquake. One rule they are taught is not to return home after a first tsunami wave hits but to wait until a tsunami alert had been cancelled, along with the key message 'run and seek higher ground'.
Using sirens, loudspeakers and signs marking evacuation routes, tsunami early warning systems and escape drills are regularly put to the test in Chile.
The last big tsunami simulation exercise took place in February, with Chile and 40 other countries along the Pacific Ocean participating in a drill to ensure warnings reach at-risk coastal communities and get them to safety.
Residents listened to the authorities, which helped to save lives, said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet.
"People cooperated because to evacuate some 660,000 people and to do it quickly, and without great difficulty, implied that people responded to the calls of the authorities, they cooperated and that allowed us ... to save many lives," Bachelet told reporters on Thursday.
The quake hit in the less densely populated coastal region of Coquimbo, which helped to keep the death toll low.
But lives were also saved because of Chile's strict building codes, which means newer buildings are able to withstand even strong quakes and not collapse, something poorer countries like Haiti and Nepal, which have suffered quakes, can't rely on.
"Chile's investment in resilient infrastructure, early warning systems and urban planning have ensured that casualties have been low on this occasion despite the intensity of the earthquake," Wahlstrom said.
It's such urban planning that neighbouring Peru urgently needs, says Miguel Estrada, head of the Peruvian-Japanese Centre for Earthquake Engineering Research and Disaster Migitation(CISMID).
He estimates around 20,000 Peruvians would have died and 200,000 homes would have been affected if the same magnitude earthquake had hit the Peruvian capital Lima.
"By contrast to Peru, Chile doesn't have so many buildings constructed in an informal way, and awareness has been raised among the population after Chile's 1960 earthquake," Estrada was quoted as saying in Peru's La Republica newspaper.
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