M6.4 earthquake 72 km WNW of Diego de Almagro, Chile

Sunday, January 5, 1919, 19:52:34 UTC · 26.039°S, 70.675°W

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck 72 km WNW of Diego de Almagro, Chile on Sunday, January 5, 1919, 19:52:34 UTC, at a depth of 35.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M8.0 on December 4, 1918.

Magnitude: 6.4; Strong · mw
Depth: 35 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

64 kilotons of TNT

That is about 4 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 135 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

98 km

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

Depth: shallow

35 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 6 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 16 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 10 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1859M7.6
Chile
5 Oct 1859 · 149 km away · intensity X
10 deathsUnder $1 million damagetsunami
1819M8.5
Copiapo
12 Apr 1819 · 135 km away · intensity X
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1819M8.0
Copiapo
4 Apr 1819 · 156 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)
1918M7.8
Copiapo
4 Dec 1918 · 33 km away
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
1819M8.0
Copiapo
3 Apr 1819 · 156 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1796M7.7
Copiapo, Vallenar, Huasco, Coquimbo
30 Mar 1796 · 149 km away · intensity XI
Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers