Moderate mag. 5.5 earthquake - Choapa, 36 km west of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 12 August 2015 at 00:14 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 5.5 earthquake - Choapa, 36 km west of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 12 August 2015 at 00:14 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 5.5 earthquake at 33 km depth

12 Aug 00:20 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 5 minutes.
Aug 12 07:10: Magnitude recalculated from 5.4 to 5.5.
Hypocenter depth recalculated from 41.0 to 33.0 km.
Date & time: 12 Aug 2015 00:14:40 UTC
Magnitude: 5.5
Depth: 33.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 31.75°S / 71.52°W (Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile)
Nearest volcano: Tupungatito (240 km / 149 mi)
Nearby towns and cities:
36 km (22 mi) WSW of Illapel (Choapa, Coquimbo Region) (pop: 22,800) --> See nearby quakes!
53 km (33 mi) W of Salamanca (Choapa, Coquimbo Region) (pop: 13,300) --> See nearby quakes!
83 km (51 mi) NNW of La Ligua (Petorca, Valparaíso) (pop: 24,900) --> See nearby quakes!
131 km (82 mi) SSW of Ovalle (Coquimbo Region) (pop: 77,100) --> See nearby quakes!
142 km (88 mi) N of Viña del Mar (Valparaíso) (pop: 294,600) --> See nearby quakes!
143 km (89 mi) N of Valparaiso (Valparaíso) (pop: 282,400) --> See nearby quakes!
144 km (90 mi) N of Villa Alemana (Valparaíso) (pop: 97,300) --> See nearby quakes!
145 km (90 mi) N of Quilpué (Valparaíso) (pop: 130,300) --> See nearby quakes!
207 km (128 mi) NNW of Santiago de Chile (Santiago Metropolitan) (pop: 4,837,300) --> See nearby quakes!
225 km (140 mi) NNW of Puente Alto (Santiago Metropolitan) (pop: 510,400) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Estimated released energy: 1.1 x 1013 joules (3.12 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 2682 tons of TNT or 0.2 atomic bombs!) More info
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Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies

Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
MagnitudeDepthLocationSource
M 5.533 kmNear Coast of Central ChileGFZ
M 5.240 km OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILEEMSC
M 5.342 km22 km al NO de Los VilosGUG (U. Chile)
M 5.134 km- 46km W of Illapel, ChileUSGS

User reports for this quake (12)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Patio BellaVista, Metropolitian District, Santiago / Weak shaking (MMI III) : This evening, I was sitting on the bed of the 3rd floor hotel room. The bed began to giggle like riding on a city street bus. It seemed to last 20 to 30 secs then stopped.
Santiago / Moderate shaking (MMI V)
Santiago / Moderate shaking (MMI V)
Santiago / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : The hotel in Vitacura swayed on the 7th floor
Godoy Cruz (Argentina, 297 km SE of epicenter) : Se ha sentido en la ciudad de Mendoza Argentina (reported through EMSC)
Providencia (Chile, 215 km SE of epicenter) : Shaking was rather long and clearly sensible even in Santiago (reported through EMSC)
Viña del Mar (Chile, 147 km S of epicenter) : I am from California, so I have been in several earthquakes. Being on the 20th floor made this unmistakable, yet nothing has been mentioned on the news. (reported through EMSC)
Con Con (Chile, 138 km S of epicenter) : Sitting in my car. Shook like a bus was driving by. (reported through EMSC)
Papudo (Chile, 92 km S of epicenter) : Percibido. IV en la escala modificada de Mercalli. Los animales se alteraron. (reported through EMSC)
Marchigüe (Chile, 300 km S of epicenter) : Very slight but noticeable trembling of about 4 - 5 oscillations per second which lasted for around 15 - 20 seconds before we got up to leave the building, at which point no trembling was noticeable. Not frightening but there was enough movement to justify leaving the building as a precaution. (reported through EMSC)
(Chile, 214 km SE of epicenter) : Felt in santiago providencia (reported through EMSC)
Concón (Chile, 137 km S of epicenter) : Two movent and long (reported through EMSC)
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Aftershocks of the 5.5 quake Choapa, 36 km west of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, 12 August 2015 00:14 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (166 quakes):
  • 10 Oct 2015 14:26 UTC
    | M 4.1 |
    35 km (21.7 mi) depth
    |
    12 km (7 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 10 Oct 2015 07:04 UTC
    | M 3.7 |
    32 km (19.9 mi) depth
    |
    17 km (10 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 10 Oct 2015 00:23 UTC
    | M 3.5 |
    35 km (21.7 mi) depth
    |
    13 km (8 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 09 Oct 2015 20:43 UTC
    | M 3.1 |
    47 km (29.2 mi) depth
    |
    17 km (11 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 09 Oct 2015 18:27 UTC
    | M 5.4 |
    28 km (17.4 mi) depth
    |
    7 km (4 mi) distance
    | GFZ | Details
  • 09 Oct 2015 18:12 UTC
    | M 3.4 |
    40.1 km (24.9 mi) depth
    |
    13 km (8 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 09 Oct 2015 06:52 UTC
    | M 4.0 |
    45.3 km (28.1 mi) depth
    |
    26 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 09 Oct 2015 03:32 UTC
    | M 3.7 |
    37 km (23 mi) depth
    |
    5 km (3 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 08 Oct 2015 02:21 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    25 km (15.5 mi) depth
    |
    10 km (6 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 07 Oct 2015 12:34 UTC
    | M 4.1 |
    26 km (16.2 mi) depth
    |
    28 km (17 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 07 Oct 2015 01:03 UTC
    | M 3.6 |
    40.1 km (24.9 mi) depth
    |
    25 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 06 Oct 2015 21:40 UTC
    | M 3.6 |
    42 km (26.1 mi) depth
    |
    26 km (16 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 06 Oct 2015 17:53 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    22.8 km (14.2 mi) depth
    |
    31 km (19 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 06 Oct 2015 11:12 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    39 km (24.2 mi) depth
    |
    13 km (8 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 05 Oct 2015 15:22 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    35.1 km (21.8 mi) depth
    |
    27 km (17 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 05 Oct 2015 02:02 UTC
    | M 4.1 |
    40 km (24.9 mi) depth
    |
    18 km (11 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
    • Show all

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Moderate mag. 5.5 earthquake - Choapa, 36 km west of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 12 August 2015 at 00:14 (GMT)
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