Reviewed by USGSChile111y ago
M6.8 earthquake 81 km WSW of Calama, Chile
Saturday, December 23, 1916, 09:24:33 UTC · 22.762°S, 69.642°W
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck 81 km WSW of Calama, Chile on Saturday, December 23, 1916, 09:24:33 UTC, at a depth of 75.0 km (intermediate). No earthquake of this size or larger appears within 300 km in the USGS catalog since 1900.
- Magnitude
- 6.8
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 75 km
- Intermediate
- 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
247 kilotons of TNT
That is about 16 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 519 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
140 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Altiplano and South American plates. Earthquakes this far from a boundary happen on faults inside a plate, often less frequently but sometimes strongly.
Depth: intermediate
75 km
Intermediate-depth earthquakes usually break inside a plate that is sinking into the mantle. Shaking spreads over a wide area but is gentler at the epicenter than a shallow quake of the same size.
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 1 M5.0+ earthquake 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 2,385 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1877M8.3
Off North Coast
10 May 1877 · 166 km away · intensity XI
2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
- 1871M7.3
Chile
5 Oct 1871 · 291 km away · intensity X
Severe damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1836M7.5
Cobija
3 Jul 1836 · 70 km away
tsunami
- 1916M7.5
Bolivia-Northern Chile
25 Aug 1916 · 259 km away
- 1869M6.8
Iquique
21 Aug 1869 · 199 km away
tsunami
- 1870
Chile
22 Apr 1870 · 82 km away · intensity X
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.