M5.0 earthquake 154 km ESE of Iquique, Chile
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 154 km ESE of Iquique, Chile on Sun, Mar 26, 1978, 1:27 PM GMT-4 (17:27 UTC), 106 km (66 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.2 Chile-Bolivia border region. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.0 (mb), moderate
- Local time
- UTC
- 1978-03-26 17:27:02 UTC
- Depth
- 106.0 km (65.9 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 20.773° S, 68.796° W
- Region
- Chile
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Depth from
- CONSTRAINED_BY_DEPTH_PHASES
- Stations used
- 53
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 3 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.2Chile-Bolivia border region · 17684 days ago · 110 km deep · 20 km away
- 4.5148 km ESE of Iquique, Chile · 17677 days ago · 93 km deep · 6 km away
- 3.9131 km N of Calama, Chile · 17659 days ago · 131 km deep · 56 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp0000trr. Read Tue, Sep 22, 2026, 10:26 PM UTC.