Moderate mag. 5.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 61 km northwest of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 at 03:49 (GMT)

Moderate mag. 5.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 61 km northwest of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 at 03:49 (GMT)

Moderate magnitude 5.3 earthquake at 20 km depth

16 Mar 04:00 UTC: First to report: GFZ after 11 minutes.
Mar 16 08:30: Magnitude recalculated from 5.1 to 5.3.
Hypocenter depth recalculated from 10.0 to 20.0 km.
Date & time: 16 Mar 2016 03:49:32 UTC
Magnitude: 5.3
Depth: 20.0 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 31.27°S / 71.65°W (South Pacific Ocean, Chile)
Nearby towns and cities:
61 km (38 mi) NW of Illapel (Choapa) (pop: 22,800) --> See nearby quakes!
86 km (53 mi) SSW of Ovalle (pop: 77,100) --> See nearby quakes!
86 km (54 mi) NW of Salamanca (Choapa) (pop: 13,300) --> See nearby quakes!
92 km (57 mi) SW of Monte Patria (pop: 13,900) --> See nearby quakes!
137 km (85 mi) NNW of La Ligua (Petorca) (pop: 24,900) --> See nearby quakes!
149 km (93 mi) S of Coquimbo (pop: 161,300) --> See nearby quakes!
157 km (97 mi) SSW of La Serena (pop: 154,500) --> See nearby quakes!
195 km (121 mi) N of Viña del Mar (pop: 294,600) --> See nearby quakes!
261 km (162 mi) NNW of Santiago de Chile (pop: 4,837,300) --> See nearby quakes!
279 km (174 mi) NNW of Puente Alto (pop: 510,400) --> See nearby quakes!
Primary data source: GFZ (German Research Centre for Geosciences)
Estimated released energy: 5.6 x 1012 joules (1.56 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 1344 tons of TNT) 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 5.320 kmNear Coast of Central ChileGFZ
M 5.220 km OFFSHORE COQUIMBO, CHILEEMSC
M 5.631 km43 km al O de Canela BajaGUG (U. Chile)
M 5.222 km- 65km NW of Illapel, ChileUSGS

User reports for this quake (5)

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
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Boicity / Violent shaking (MMI IX)
San Francisco California / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Staying just north of Concon and was woken by a steady pretty aggressive shaking for 10 to 12 seconds. I was in a five story building top floor on a small hill on the coast
Santiago, Chile (264.4 km SSE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Very strong wave. Felt like one big ocean waves. I got my balance throughout a bit and a jug of water shocked (reported through our app)
Vitacura (Chile, 258 km SE of epicenter) : Was sleeping and woke up. 9th floor. Smooth movement. (reported through EMSC)
Quillota (Chile, 189 km S of epicenter) : Gustavo (reported through EMSC)
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Aftershocks of the 5.3 quake South Pacific Ocean, 61 km northwest of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, 16 March 2016 03:49 GMT

More info
Recorded aftershocks, latest first (32 quakes):
  • 04 May 2016 07:27 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    22.5 km (14 mi) depth
    |
    20 km (12 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 02 May 2016 02:00 UTC
    | M 2.9 |
    30 km (18.6 mi) depth
    |
    20 km (12 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 28 Apr 2016 19:00 UTC
    | M 3.4 |
    63.5 km (39.5 mi) depth
    |
    26 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 17 Apr 2016 19:22 UTC
    | M 2.8 |
    20.1 km (12.5 mi) depth
    |
    21 km (13 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 17 Apr 2016 10:11 UTC
    | M 2.5 |
    33 km (20.5 mi) depth
    |
    21 km (13 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 16 Apr 2016 09:28 UTC
    | M 3.1 |
    34 km (21.1 mi) depth
    |
    13 km (8 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 13 Apr 2016 11:37 UTC
    | M 3.0 |
    27 km (16.8 mi) depth
    |
    27 km (17 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 11 Apr 2016 07:33 UTC
    | M 3.3 |
    30.4 km (18.9 mi) depth
    |
    27 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 11 Apr 2016 05:52 UTC
    | M 2.9 |
    30.5 km (19 mi) depth
    |
    26 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 10 Apr 2016 23:06 UTC
    | M 3.1 |
    25.1 km (15.6 mi) depth
    |
    26 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 10 Apr 2016 18:15 UTC
    | M 3.4 |
    35.1 km (21.8 mi) depth
    |
    25 km (15 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 10 Apr 2016 18:10 UTC
    | M 4.8 |
    40 km (24.9 mi) depth
    |
    25 km (16 mi) distance
    | EMSC | Details
  • 10 Apr 2016 15:24 UTC
    | M 3.5 |
    24 km (14.9 mi) depth
    |
    27 km (16 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 09 Apr 2016 19:27 UTC
    | M 3.2 |
    25.4 km (15.8 mi) depth
    |
    21 km (13 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 09 Apr 2016 16:21 UTC
    | M 2.4 |
    35.6 km (22.1 mi) depth
    |
    13 km (8 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
  • 09 Apr 2016 11:58 UTC
    | M 3.4 |
    34.5 km (21.4 mi) depth
    |
    12 km (8 mi) distance
    | GUG (U. Chile) | Details
    • Show all

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Earlier earthquakes in the same area

Moderate mag. 5.3 earthquake - South Pacific Ocean, 61 km northwest of Illapel, Provincia de Choapa, Coquimbo Region, Chile, on Wednesday, 16 March 2016 at 03:49 (GMT)
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