M7.1 earthquake 16 km NW of Villazón, Bolivia

Thursday, January 23, 1997, 02:15:22 UTC · 21.999°S, 65.719°W

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck 16 km NW of Villazón, Bolivia on Thursday, January 23, 1997, 02:15:22 UTC, at a depth of 276.2 km (intermediate). It is the strongest earthquake within 300 km since an M7.7 on November 29, 1957.

Magnitude: 7.1; Major · mwc
Depth: 276 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 earthquakeDashed circle: 200 km aftershock search area

In context

How big was it, and why here?

Energy released

674 kilotons of TNT

That is about 45 times the Hiroshima bomb. It released about 1,413 times the energy of a magnitude 5.0.

Tectonic setting

57 km

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

Depth: intermediate

276 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 200 km

USGS lists 2 M2.5+ earthquakes within 200 km in the following 30 days; the largest was M4.6 on February 8, 1997. Most nearby activity right after a large earthquake is aftershocks, which usually become less frequent over days and weeks.

Time after the mainshock on a logarithmic scale (first hours stretched), magnitude on the vertical axis. M2.5+ events from USGS.

Regional history

Past M5+ earthquakes within 300 km

USGS lists 244 M5.0+ earthquakes within 300 km before this one (catalog from 1900; older records are less complete). The strongest:

History · NOAA

Deadliest earthquakes in this area

NOAA’s significant-earthquake database lists 11 damaging, deadly or tsunami-generating earthquakes within 300 km of this epicenter since 1700, which together caused about 2 recorded deaths. The most severe:

1959M7.5
Bolivia-Northern Chile
14 Jun 1959 · 298 km away
1 deathLimited damage (under $1M)
1950M8.0
Chile-Argentina
9 Dec 1950 · 247 km away · intensity VII
1 death
1899M6.9
Southern; Argentina: Salta
23 Mar 1899 · 211 km away · intensity X
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1959M6.6
Salta
12 May 1959 · 145 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1863
Jujuy
14 Jan 1863 · 193 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)
1871
Salta
9 Oct 1871 · 190 km away · intensity VIII
Moderate damage ($1–5M)

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

Nearby trackers