M5.3 earthquake 93 km NE of Calama, Chile
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 93 km NE of Calama, Chile on Tue, May 4, 2010, 12:12 PM GMT-4 (16:12 UTC), 92 km (57 mi) below the surface.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2010-05-04 16:12:55 UTC
- Depth
- 91.9 km (57.1 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 21.886° S, 68.251° W
- Region
- Chile
- Felt reports
- 3
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Magnitude estimates
Different scales measure different things and differ by a few tenths. The USGS marks one as preferred, and it is the one this page uses.
| Mag. | Scale | Computed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.34 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.3 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt (III) at Maria Elena, Quillagua and Tocopilla; (II) at Antofagasta, Calama, Pica and Pozo Almonte. Also felt at Iquique.
From the USGS event page for usp000hcak. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
3 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was IV, light shaking.
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Oblique normal
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 219°, dip 24°, rake -46°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 353°, dip 73°, rake -108°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Station coverage gap
- 47°
- Stations used
- 224
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.3 and up: 1 in the 60 days after this one and 8 in the 30 days before it.
After
Before
- 5.0156 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5999 days ago · 109 km deep · 96 km away · felt by 4
- 4.2159 km WSW of Colchani, Bolivia · 6006 days ago · 139 km deep · 89 km away
- 4.278 km NE of Calama, Chile · 6007 days ago · 113 km deep · 16 km away
- 4.360 km NE of Calama, Chile · 6010 days ago · 107 km deep · 33 km away
- 4.134 km NE of Calama, Chile · 6011 days ago · 95 km deep · 59 km away
- 4.9152 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 6015 days ago · 105 km deep · 88 km away
- 4.324 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 6017 days ago · 101 km deep · 71 km away
- 4.3151 km SW of Uyuni, Bolivia · 6025 days ago · 118 km deep · 67 km away
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000hcak (also filed as us2010vwbt, gcmtc201005041612a, gcmt20100504161255, iscgem14668355). Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 6:21 AM UTC.