Reviewed by USGSPeru90y ago
M6.5 earthquake 18 km WSW of Oxapampa, Peru
Friday, December 24, 1937, 06:20:43 UTC · 10.637°S, 75.562°W
A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck 18 km WSW of Oxapampa, Peru on Friday, December 24, 1937, 06:20:43 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
- 6.5
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 15 km
- Shallow
- Felt reports
- 0
- Did You Feel It?
- Est. shaking
- VII
- Very strong (ShakeMap)
- PAGER alert
- None
- Not issued
- Tsunami
- No flag
- USGS feed
Outlined circle: this earthquakeColoured lines: estimated shaking intensity (USGS ShakeMap)
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
74 kilotons of TNT
That is about 5 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 155 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
290 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Sunda and Australian plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
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:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 17 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 5,991 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1746M8.0
Lima, Callao
29 Oct 1746 · 234 km away · intensity XI
5,941 deathsExtreme damage ($25M+)tsunami
- 1828M8.3
Lima, Callao
30 Mar 1828 · 296 km away · intensity VII
30 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1937M6.5
Huancabamba,Oxapampa,El Progreso,San David
24 Dec 1937 · 109 km away · intensity X
15 deathsModerate damage ($1–5M)
- 1865
Peru
8 Jan 1865 · 226 km away
5 deathsLimited damage (under $1M)tsunami
- 1860
Lima, Callao
23 Apr 1860 · 234 km away · intensity VI
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1869
Lima
22 Apr 1869 · 234 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.