Reviewed by USGSPeru122y ago
M6.2 earthquake 2 km S of Palca, Peru
Saturday, May 5, 1906, 00:21:16 UTC · 17.801°S, 69.965°W
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck 2 km S of Palca, Peru on Saturday, May 5, 1906, 00:21:16 UTC, at a depth of 60.0 km (shallow). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 60 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
26 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 55 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
252 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and Altiplano plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: shallow
60 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 no earlier M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km.
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 30 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 26,083 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1868M8.5
Arica
13 Aug 1868 · 141 km away · intensity XI
25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami
- 1833M7.7
Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica
18 Sep 1833 · 121 km away · intensity VIII
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1784M8.0
Arequipa,Camana,Moquegua,Tambo
13 May 1784 · 260 km away · intensity X
383 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1878M7.9
Tarapaca
23 Jan 1878 · 239 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1871M7.3
Chile
5 Oct 1871 · 268 km away · intensity X
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1705
Chile: Arica
26 Nov 1705 · 92 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.