M4.5 earthquake 88 km SW of Lebu, Chile
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 88 km SW of Lebu, Chile on Sat, Apr 21, 2012, 7:18 PM GMT-3 (22:18 UTC), 31 km (19 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M4.7 112 km SW of Lebu, Chile. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 4.5 (Mwr, regional moment), light
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2012-04-21 22:18:11 UTC
- Depth
- 31.2 km (19.4 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 38.224° S, 74.289° W
- Region
- Chile
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
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 usp000jjcp. 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 reverse
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 43°, dip 31°, rake 132°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 177°, dip 68°, rake 68°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Station coverage gap
- 142°
- Stations used
- 47
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 2 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.210 km ESE of Lebu, Chile · 5243 days ago · 13 km deep · 91 km away
- 4.7112 km SW of Lebu, Chile · 5222 days ago · 22 km deep · 36 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event usp000jjcp. Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 12:04 PM UTC.