Reviewed by USGS38y ago
M6.3 earthquake in Easter Island region
Thursday, May 5, 1988, 10:04:14 UTC · 26.867°S, 113.268°W
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in Easter Island region on Thursday, May 5, 1988, 10:04:14 UTC, at a depth of 10.0 km (shallow). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M6.5 on March 7, 1963.
- Magnitude
- 6.3
- Strong · mw
- Depth
- 10 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
43 kilotons of TNT
That is about 3 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 89 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.
Tectonic setting
5 km
from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Easter and Pacific plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.
Depth: shallow
10 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 M6.1 on May 5, 1988. 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 60 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:
- 6.5Easter Island regionDecember 30, 1951 · 88 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.5Easter Island regionMarch 7, 1963 · 31 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.5Easter Island regionSeptember 15, 1935 · 64 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3Easter Island regionJanuary 5, 1932 · 91 km SW of this epicenter
- 6.3Easter Island regionJanuary 2, 1940 · 259 km S of this epicenter
- 6.3Easter Island regionApril 30, 1950 · 252 km N of this epicenter
- 6.3Easter Island regionApril 22, 1969 · 76 km W of this epicenter
- 6.2Easter Island regionSeptember 19, 1943 · 207 km S of this epicenter