QuakeScout
Magnitude6.9

Reviewed by USGSChile116y ago

M6.9 earthquake 119 km W of Iquique, Chile

Friday, September 15, 1911, 13:09:56 UTC · 20.180°S, 71.292°W

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 119 km W of Iquique, Chile on Friday, September 15, 1911, 13:09:56 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.

Magnitude
6.9
Strong · mw
Depth
15 km
Shallow
Felt reports
0
Did You Feel It?
Est. shaking
—
No ShakeMap
PAGER alert
None
Not issued
Tsunami
No flag
USGS feed

Outlined circle: this earthquake

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

362 kilotons of TNT

That is about 24 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 759 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

9 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and Altiplano plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: shallow

15 km

Shallow earthquakes (under 70 km) produce the strongest surface shaking for their size, so they are the ones most likely to cause damage near the epicenter.

Did You Feel It?

Where it was felt

No “Did You Feel It?” reports have been published for this event yet. If you felt it, you can add your report on the USGS website.

I felt it — report to USGS ↗

USGS PAGER estimate

Who was exposed to shaking

USGS publishes PAGER impact estimates for significant earthquakes, usually within an hour. No PAGER estimate is available for this event.

After the main event

Aftershocks within 100 km

USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the 30 days after this event.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 3 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 6.925 km ENE of Arica, ChileAugust 30, 1906 · 239 km NE of this epicenter
  2. 6.987 km NNW of Iquique, ChileDecember 26, 1906 · 100 km NE of this epicenter
  3. 6.22 km S of Palca, PeruMay 5, 1906 · 299 km NE of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 29 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 28,085 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1868M8.5

    Arica

    13 Aug 1868 · 178 km away · intensity XI

    25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami

  2. 1877M8.3

    Off North Coast

    10 May 1877 · 168 km away · intensity XI

    2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami

  3. 1833M7.7

    Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica

    18 Sep 1833 · 217 km away · intensity VIII

    700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1878M7.9

    Tarapaca

    23 Jan 1878 · 104 km away · intensity VIII

    Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  5. 1871M7.3

    Chile

    5 Oct 1871 · 114 km away · intensity X

    Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  6. 1705

    Chile: Arica

    26 Nov 1705 · 210 km away

    Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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