Reviewed by USGSChile12y ago
M4.0 earthquake 96 km S of Arica, Chile
Sunday, May 25, 2014, 17:23:38 UTC · 19.342°S, 70.420°W
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck 96 km S of Arica, Chile on Sunday, May 25, 2014, 17:23:38 UTC, at a depth of 29.3 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.0
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 29 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
15 tons of TNT
That is about 1/998 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 32 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
124 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
29 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 50 km
USGS has not published any M2.5+ earthquake within 50 km in the 30 days after this event.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 614 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 8.293 km NW of Iquique, ChileApril 1, 2014 · 47 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.8102 km ENE of Iquique, ChileJune 13, 2005 · 147 km SE of this epicenter
- 7.753 km SW of Iquique, ChileApril 3, 2014 · 137 km S of this epicenter
- 7.651 km SW of Punta de Bombón, PeruJuly 7, 2001 · 266 km NW of this epicenter
- 7.3136 km WSW of Challapata, BoliviaJune 6, 1915 · 253 km E of this epicenter
- 7.334 km NE of Tocopilla, ChileDecember 21, 1967 · 286 km S of this epicenter
- 7.334 km S of Iquique, ChileFebruary 23, 1933 · 133 km S of this epicenter
- 7.2Near the coast of Tarapaca, ChileOctober 4, 1940 · 71 km S of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 52 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 28,114 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1868M8.5
Arica
13 Aug 1868 · 103 km away · intensity XI
25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami
- 1877M8.3
Off North Coast
10 May 1877 · 240 km away · intensity XI
2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
- 1833M7.7
Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica
18 Sep 1833 · 136 km away · intensity VIII
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 2005M7.7
Tarapaca
13 Jun 2005 · 147 km away
11 deaths$5 million damage
- 2014M8.2
Northern: Iquique, Alto Hospicio
1 Apr 2014 · 47 km away · intensity VIII
7 deaths$100 million damagetsunami
- 1987M6.9
Arica, Iquique
8 Aug 1987 · 57 km away · intensity VII
5 deaths$1 million damage
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.