M4.9 earthquake 86 km NNE of Calama, Chile
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck 86 km NNE of Calama, Chile on Wed, Jul 21, 2021, 12:23 PM GMT-4 (16:23 UTC), 104 km (64 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M5.2 87 km NE of Calama, Chile. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 4.9 (Mww, W-phase moment), light
- Magnitude from
- USGS National Earthquake Information Center
- Local time
- UTC
- 2021-07-21 16:23:57 UTC
- Depth
- 103.6 km (64.4 mi), intermediate-depth
- Epicenter
- 21.714° S, 68.657° 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.9 | Mww, W-phase moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Preferred · Reviewed · ±0.098 · 10 stations |
| 4.98 | Mw, moment | ISC-GEM global catalog | Final · ±0.1 |
| 4.8 | Mwr, regional moment | USGS National Earthquake Information Center | Moment tensor · Reviewed |
Did you feel it?
3 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
- Normal
- Moment magnitude
- 4.8 Mwr
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 198°, dip 5°, rake -70°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 359°, dip 85°, rake -92°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 5.0 km horizontally, 3.7 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.10
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 46°
- Stations used
- 110
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.9 and up: 11 in the 60 days after this one and 11 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.475 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1899 days ago · 139 km deep · 16 km away · felt by 1
- 4.3141 km N of Calama, Chile · 1885 days ago · 134 km deep · 61 km away
- 5.287 km NE of Calama, Chile · 1882 days ago · 137 km deep · 31 km away · felt by 8
- 4.1158 km ESE of Iquique, Chile · 1877 days ago · 108 km deep · 93 km away
- 4.5128 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1874 days ago · 105 km deep · 44 km away · felt by 2
- 4.3124 km N of Calama, Chile · 1873 days ago · 124 km deep · 46 km away
- 4.9136 km ESE of Iquique, Chile · 1866 days ago · 103 km deep · 100 km away · felt by 9
- 4.5149 km SW of Uyuni, Bolivia · 1864 days ago · 206 km deep · 87 km away
- 4.1107 km NE of Calama, Chile · 1850 days ago · 137 km deep · 35 km away
- 4.3160 km N of Calama, Chile · 1845 days ago · 104 km deep · 78 km away
- 4.339 km NE of Calama, Chile · 1843 days ago · 132 km deep · 55 km away
Before
- 4.690 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1904 days ago · 147 km deep · 10 km away
- 4.391 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1906 days ago · 129 km deep · 13 km away · felt by 1
- 4.461 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1912 days ago · 125 km deep · 27 km away
- 4.7147 km N of Calama, Chile · 1913 days ago · 118 km deep · 64 km away · felt by 1
- 4.119 km SE of Calama, Chile · 1914 days ago · 109 km deep · 99 km away
- 4.0119 km N of Calama, Chile · 1918 days ago · 126 km deep · 37 km away
- 4.0150 km ESE of Iquique, Chile · 1918 days ago · 107 km deep · 93 km away
- 4.0138 km N of Calama, Chile · 1920 days ago · 117 km deep · 55 km away
- 4.3134 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1923 days ago · 110 km deep · 49 km away
- 3.924 km E of Calama, Chile · 1924 days ago · 123 km deep · 80 km away
- 4.398 km NNE of Calama, Chile · 1925 days ago · 111 km deep · 20 km away
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Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us6000expf (also filed as iscgem620842808). Read Fri, Oct 2, 2026, 7:04 PM UTC.