M4.5 earthquake 31 km W of Coquimbo, Chile
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 31 km W of Coquimbo, Chile on Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 9:46 PM GMT-3 (00:46 UTC), 20 km (12 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M4.8 29 km NNW of Ovalle, 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
- 2021-09-19 00:46:22 UTC
- Depth
- 20.0 km (12.4 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 30.004° S, 71.661° W
- Region
- Chile
- Felt reports
- 2
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
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
- Oblique normal
- Moment magnitude
- 4.5 Mwr
- Nodal plane 1
- Strike 19°, dip 71°, rake -139°
- Nodal plane 2
- Strike 274°, dip 51°, rake -24°
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 4.0 km horizontally, 3.1 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.04
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 100°
- Stations used
- 131
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 5 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 4.46 km SSW of Coquimbo, Chile · 1833 days ago · 45 km deep · 28 km away · felt by 7
- 4.533 km WSW of Ovalle, Chile · 1832 days ago · 39 km deep · 81 km away
- 4.484 km NW of Coquimbo, Chile · 1817 days ago · 10 km deep · 72 km away
- 4.829 km NNW of Ovalle, Chile · 1794 days ago · 50 km deep · 54 km away · felt by 13
Before
- 4.263 km W of Coquimbo, Chile · 1846 days ago · 11 km deep · 32 km away
- 4.255 km WSW of Ovalle, Chile · 1852 days ago · 24 km deep · 79 km away
- 4.435 km WSW of Coquimbo, Chile · 1854 days ago · 25 km deep · 4 km away · felt by 1
- 4.442 km NW of Coquimbo, Chile · 1859 days ago · 32 km deep · 30 km away
- 4.218 km W of Ovalle, Chile · 1860 days ago · 69 km deep · 68 km away · felt by 6
Earthquakes todayChile earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event us7000fcj1. Read Sat, Oct 3, 2026, 11:11 AM UTC.