Scientists claim the huge earthquake that struck Chile may have shortened the length of days on our planet.

NASA experts are predicting that the 8.8-magnitude quake, the seventh strongest in recorded history, has changed the Earth's rotation.

As well as killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands homeless, its effects could be felt for even longer as it may have shortened the length of a day by 1.26 milliseconds.

Research scientist Richard Gross used a computer model to determine the effects of Saturday's earthquake, reports Space.com. The model found that the whopping tectonic activity should have shifted Earth's figure axis by about 8cm.

Strong earthquakes have previously altered the planet's days and its axis; the 9.1 Sumatran earthquake in 2004, which set off a deadly tsunami, should have shortened Earth's days by 6.8 microseconds and shifted its axis by about 7cm.

Over the course of a year, the length of a day normally changes gradually by one millisecond. It increases in the winter, when the Earth rotates more slowly, and decreases in the summer, Gross has said in the past.

Space.com confirms that, though the Chile earthquake was much smaller than the Sumatran temblor, its effects on the Earth are larger because of its location -its epicentre was located in the Earth's mid-latitudes rather than near the equator like the Sumatran event.

"This makes the Chile fault more effective in moving Earth's mass vertically and hence more effective in shifting Earth's figure axis," NASA officials said.