Reviewed by USGSChile39y ago
M4.4 earthquake 72 km N of Iquique, Chile
Thursday, August 13, 1987, 06:37:55 UTC · 19.562°S, 70.213°W
A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 72 km N of Iquique, Chile on Thursday, August 13, 1987, 06:37:55 UTC, at a depth of 53.1 km (shallow).
- Magnitude
- 4.4
- Light · mb
- Depth
- 53 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
60 tons of TNT
That is about 1/251 of the Hiroshima bomb. A magnitude 5.0 releases about 8 times more energy.
Tectonic setting
136 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
53 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 233 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 7.3136 km WSW of Challapata, BoliviaJune 6, 1915 · 233 km E of this epicenter
- 7.334 km NE of Tocopilla, ChileDecember 21, 1967 · 259 km S of this epicenter
- 7.334 km S of Iquique, ChileFebruary 23, 1933 · 107 km S of this epicenter
- 7.2Near the coast of Tarapaca, ChileOctober 4, 1940 · 51 km SW of this epicenter
- 7.268 km SSE of Arica, ChileAugust 8, 1987 · 64 km N of this epicenter
- 7.1136 km E of Iquique, ChileJune 14, 1959 · 170 km SE of this epicenter
- 6.9119 km W of Iquique, ChileSeptember 15, 1911 · 132 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.925 km ENE of Arica, ChileAugust 30, 1906 · 134 km N of this epicenter
History · NOAA
Deadliest earthquakes in this area
NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 45 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 28,095 recorded deaths. The most severe:
- 1868M8.5
Arica
13 Aug 1868 · 135 km away · intensity XI
25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami
- 1877M8.3
Off North Coast
10 May 1877 · 218 km away · intensity XI
2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami
- 1833M7.7
Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica
18 Sep 1833 · 168 km away · intensity VIII
700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami
- 1987M6.9
Arica, Iquique
8 Aug 1987 · 64 km away · intensity VII
5 deaths$1 million damage
- 1967M7.5
Northern
21 Dec 1967 · 249 km away
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami
- 1976M7.3
Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica
30 Nov 1976 · 172 km away · intensity VIII
1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)
NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.