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Major magnitude 8.2 earthquake - 255 km east of Antofagasta, Chile, on Saturday, December 9, 1950 at 21:38 GMT

Major magnitude 8.2 earthquake at 114 km depth

Earthquake details

Date & time	Dec 9, 1950 21:38:51 UTC
Local time at epicenter
Status	Confirmed
Magnitude	8.2
Depth	113.9 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	23.977°S / 67.912°W (El Loa, Antofagasta, Chile)
Antipode	23.977°N / 112.088°E
Shaking intensity	Very strong shaking near epicenter
Felt	0 reports
Primary data source	USGS (United States Geological Survey)
Nearest volcano	Capur (8 km / 5 mi)
Nearby towns and cities	122 km (76 mi) SSE of San Pedro de Atacama (pop: 2,000) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 198 km (123 mi) SSE of Calama (pop: 143,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 255 km (159 mi) E of Antofagasta (pop: 309,800) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 267 km (166 mi) W of Jujuy (Argentina) (pop: 305,900) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 269 km (167 mi) WNW of Salta (Argentina) (pop: 512,700) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 276 km (171 mi) W of Palpala (Jujuy, Argentina) (pop: 48,200) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 311 km (193 mi) W of San Pedro de Jujuy (Argentina) (pop: 58,400) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 314 km (195 mi) SE of Tocopilla (pop: 24,500) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 342 km (212 mi) NE of Diego de Almagro (Atacama) (pop: 18,100) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby 448 km (279 mi) NNE of Copiapo (Atacama) (pop: 129,300) \| Show on map \| Quakes nearby
Weather at epicenter at time of quake
Estimated seismic energy released	1.3 x 10¹⁷ joules (34970 gigawatt hours, equivalent to 3 x 10⁷ tons of TNT or 1880.6 atomic bombs!) \| about seismic energy

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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.

Mag.	Depth	Location	Source
8.2	114 km	Antofagasta, Chile	USGS

Note: for quakes of 2012 and earlier, our database often contains only records from USGS.

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User reports for this quake

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

There are no user reports for this quake.

Aftershocks

[More info]

Recorded aftershocks, latest first (2 quakes)

Date and time	Mag Depth	Location	Details
May 24, 1952 01:59 71 years ago	6.0 25 km	111 km SW of Iquique, Tarapaca, Chile	More
May 15, 1951 05:18 72 years ago	6.0 53 km	Tarapaca, 78 km NE of Tocopilla, Antofagasta, Chile	More

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