Reviewed by USGSChile111y ago
M6.9 earthquake 181 km W of Iquique, Chile
Friday, August 25, 1916, 09:44:21 UTC · 20.162°S, 71.886°W
A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck 181 km W of Iquique, Chile on Friday, August 25, 1916, 09:44:21 UTC, at a depth of 15.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.9 on September 15, 1911.
- 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
294 kilotons of TNT
That is about 20 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 617 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
50 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:
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 27 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:
- 1868M8.5
Arica
13 Aug 1868 · 197 km away · intensity XI
25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami
- 1877M8.3
Off North Coast
10 May 1877 · 207 km away · intensity XI
2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
- 1833M7.7
Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica
18 Sep 1833 · 232 km away · intensity VIII
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1878M7.9
Tarapaca
23 Jan 1878 · 164 km away · intensity VIII
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1871M7.3
Chile
5 Oct 1871 · 176 km away · intensity X
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1705
Chile: Arica
26 Nov 1705 · 248 km away
Moderate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.