M5.0 earthquake 160 km NNE of Calama, Chile
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck 160 km NNE of Calama, Chile on Sun, Sep 26, 2010, 6:16 AM GMT-4 (10:16 UTC), 94 km (58 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.8 163 km WSW of Colchani, Bolivia. 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 (Mwc, centroid moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2010-09-26 10:16:15 UTC
- Depth
- 93.6 km (58.2 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 21.184° S, 68.178° W
- Region
- Chile
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | Mwc, centroid moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.01 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.0 | Mwc, centroid moment | Global CMT project | Preliminary |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
no people dead or missing; no people injured; no buildings damaged or destroyed
From the USGS event page for usp000hm74. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
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 121°, dip 47°, rake -128°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 350°, dip 55°, rake -57°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Station coverage gap
- 52°
- Stations used
- 252
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.0 and up: 7 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.6163 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5853 days ago · 110 km deep · 19 km away
- 4.3136 km N of Calama, Chile · 5842 days ago · 124 km deep · 54 km away
- 4.4148 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5837 days ago · 100 km deep · 40 km away
- 4.1123 km N of Calama, Chile · 5831 days ago · 117 km deep · 78 km away
- 5.8163 km WSW of Colchani, Bolivia · 5827 days ago · 132 km deep · 40 km away · felt by 11
- 4.4126 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5814 days ago · 136 km deep · 44 km away
- 4.0163 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 5799 days ago · 122 km deep · 12 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000hm74 (also filed as gcmtc201009261016a, gcmt20100926101615, iscgem15211720). Read Mon, Oct 5, 2026, 9:44 AM UTC.