M5.1 earthquake 70 km W of Vallenar, Chile
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck 70 km W of Vallenar, Chile on Thu, May 14, 2015, 12:08 PM GMT-3 (15:08 UTC), 18 km (11 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.2 41 km NNE of Vallenar, Chile. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.1 (Mww, W-phase moment), moderate
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2015-05-14 15:08:04 UTC
- Depth
- 18.4 km (11.4 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 28.666° S, 71.474° W
- Region
- Chile
- Felt reports
- 2
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed |
| 5.23 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 5.0 | Mwr, regional moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Felt (IV) at Coquimbo, Freirina, La Serena and Vallenar; (III) at Alto del Carmen, Copiapo, Huasco, Tierra Amarilla and Vicuna.
From the USGS event page for us100028yq. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
Did you feel it?
2 people reported to the USGS what they felt; the strongest reported shaking was III, weak shaking.
Fault motion and ground failure
How the rock slipped, from the moment tensor, and the USGS estimate of landslides and liquefaction.
- Faulting
- Reverse (thrust)
- Moment magnitude
- 5.1 Mww
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 191°, dip 75°, rake 82°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 39°, dip 17°, rake 117°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 4.5 km horizontally, 2.8 km in depth
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 53°
- Stations used
- 196
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 2.1 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 1 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 5.241 km NNE of Vallenar, Chile · 4143 days ago · 44 km deep · 95 km away · felt by 9
- 4.680 km WSW of Vallenar, Chile · 4137 days ago · 26 km deep · 13 km away
- 4.567 km WNW of Vallenar, Chile · 4134 days ago · 28 km deep · 48 km away
- 4.289 km NW of Coquimbo, Chile · 4124 days ago · 10 km deep · 97 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us100028yq (also filed as iscgem607244002). Read Thu, Oct 1, 2026, 7:42 AM UTC.