Reviewed by USGS50y ago
M6.2 earthquake southern East Pacific Rise
Monday, July 26, 1976, 01:41:25 UTC · 21.907°S, 113.332°W
A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck southern East Pacific Rise on Monday, July 26, 1976, 01:41:25 UTC, at a depth of 33.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.3 on July 23, 1956.
- Magnitude
- 6.2
- Strong · ms
- Depth
- 33 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 100 km aftershock search area
In context
How big was it, and why here?
Energy released
30 kilotons of TNT
That is about 2 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 63 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
32 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Easter and Nazca plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
33 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 lists 1 M2.5+ earthquake within 100 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.8 on July 31, 1976. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.
Regional history
Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km
USGS lists 19 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.5Easter Island regionNovember 2, 1932 · 166 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.3southern East Pacific RiseApril 8, 1954 · 235 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3Easter Island regionJuly 23, 1956 · 258 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.2southern East Pacific RiseFebruary 20, 1951 · 100 km NW of this epicenter
- 6.1Easter Island regionJuly 18, 1952 · 187 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.1Easter Island regionNovember 3, 1965 · 85 km SW of this epicenter
- 5.9Easter Island regionAugust 9, 1968 · 66 km S of this epicenter
- 5.9Easter Island regionNovember 6, 1965 · 66 km W of this epicenter