QuakeScout
Magnitude4.4

Reviewed by USGSChile31y ago

M4.4 earthquake 40 km WNW of Iquique, Chile

Monday, August 28, 1995, 03:31:46 UTC · 20.068°S, 70.503°W

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck 40 km WNW of Iquique, Chile on Monday, August 28, 1995, 03:31:46 UTC, at a depth of 112.0 km (intermediate).

Magnitude
4.4
Light · mb
Depth
112 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

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

92 km

from the nearest mapped plate boundary, between the Nazca and Altiplano plates. Earthquakes cluster along boundaries like this one, where plates collide, pull apart or slide past each other.

Depth: intermediate

112 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 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 328 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

  1. 7.3136 km WSW of Challapata, BoliviaJune 6, 1915 · 276 km E of this epicenter
  2. 7.334 km NE of Tocopilla, ChileDecember 21, 1967 · 209 km S of this epicenter
  3. 7.334 km S of Iquique, ChileFebruary 23, 1933 · 60 km SE of this epicenter
  4. 7.2Near the coast of Tarapaca, ChileOctober 4, 1940 · 13 km NE of this epicenter
  5. 7.268 km SSE of Arica, ChileAugust 8, 1987 · 128 km NE of this epicenter
  6. 7.1136 km E of Iquique, ChileJune 14, 1959 · 175 km E of this epicenter
  7. 6.9119 km W of Iquique, ChileSeptember 15, 1911 · 83 km W of this epicenter
  8. 6.925 km ENE of Arica, ChileAugust 30, 1906 · 195 km N of this epicenter

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 46 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 28,097 recorded deaths. The most severe:

  1. 1868M8.5

    Arica

    13 Aug 1868 · 171 km away · intensity XI

    25,000 deaths$300 million damagetsunami

  2. 1877M8.3

    Off North Coast

    10 May 1877 · 159 km away · intensity XI

    2,385 deaths$2 million damagetsunami

  3. 1833M7.7

    Peru: Tacna; Chile: Arica

    18 Sep 1833 · 209 km away · intensity VIII

    700 deathsSevere damage ($5–24M)tsunami

  4. 1987M6.9

    Arica, Iquique

    8 Aug 1987 · 128 km away · intensity VII

    5 deaths$1 million damage

  5. 1953M7.4

    Northern

    7 Dec 1953 · 293 km away

    3 deaths$7 million damage

  6. 1967M7.5

    Northern

    21 Dec 1967 · 209 km away

    1 deathModerate damage ($1–5M)tsunami

NOAA NCEI Global Significant Earthquake Database. Historical figures are estimates; older records are incomplete.

Nearby trackers

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