Earthquakes in Chile, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 469 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in or off Chile. 62 of them reached magnitude 7 or more; the strongest was a magnitude 9.5 on May 22, 1960 (1960 Great Chilean Earthquake (Valdivia Earthquake)).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded 19 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames in the last 30 days.
The latest: magnitude 4.5 on October 23 (58 km SW of Atocha, Bolivia). The strongest: magnitude 5.3 on October 10 (southeast of Easter Island).
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 7.9 on January 25, 1939 (26 km WNW of San Carlos, Chile), for which NOAA records 30,000 deaths. 98 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 53 of the events here, 34,043 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 7.4 on May 2, 2025 (2025 Drake Passage Earthquake). NOAA lists 49 tsunamis that began in or off Chile, and 8 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 60 m, on February 19, 1965. The deadliest, on May 22, 1960, killed 2,000 people here by NOAA’s runup records. NOAA lists 16 significant eruptions of 8 volcanoes in or off Chile. The largest was Hudson, Cerro on August 8, 1991, at 5 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Villarrica on January 1, 1949, which killed 54 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- May 2, 2025Earthquake · M 7.42025 Drake Passage EarthquakeUSGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 16, 2015Earthquake · M 8.348 km W of Illapel, Chile · 15 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- April 1, 2014Earthquake · M 8.293 km NW of Iquique, Chile · 7 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 27, 2010Earthquake · M 8.82010 Maule, Chile Earthquake · 558 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- August 8, 1991Eruption · VEI 5Hudson, CerroNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 19, 1965Tsunami · 60 m hereSouthern Chile · 27 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- May 22, 1960Earthquake · M 9.51960 Great Chilean Earthquake (Valdivia Earthquake) · 2,226 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- May 22, 1960Tsunami · 25 m hereSouthern Chile · 2,000 deaths here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 9, 1950Earthquake · M 8.2121 km SSE of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 1, 1949Eruption · VEI 3Villarrica · 54 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 25, 1939Earthquake · M 7.926 km WNW of San Carlos, Chile · 30,000 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Chile when it began inside its borders, or at sea within 100 km of its coast (so one can count for two neighbours), or further out, up to 300 km, where Chile is the nearest country.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- The map frames the box around Chile, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history