July 12, 1687 Earthquake: Santiago, Chile

Date

July 12, 1687

Place

Santiago, Chile

Magnitude

7.5 (Ms)

Intensity

8 on the Modified Mercalli scale

Tsunami

Yes: the tsunami it caused

Epicenter

32.800° S, 70.700° W

Country

Chile

Deaths

Few (about 1 to 50)

Damage

Limited (under about $1 million)

Houses destroyed

Few (about 1 to 50)

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

• March 20, 1861, Mendoza, San Luiz, Argentina14,000 deaths · 178 km
• August 17, 1906, South Central, ChileM8.2 · 4,000 deaths · $100 million · 123 km
• May 14, 1647, Santiago, ChileM8.5 · 1,000 deaths · 300 houses destroyed · 67 km
• March 28, 1965, Central, ChileM7.3 · 400 deaths · $125 million · 65 km
• March 3, 1985, Central Coast, San Antonio, Valparaiso, ChileM8 · 180 deaths · $1.5 billion · 101 km
• July 9, 1971, Central, ChileM7.8 · 83 deaths · $236.4 million · 57 km
• November 20, 1822, Valparaiso, Quillota, Concon, Aconcagua, ChileM8.5 · 72 deaths · 123 km
• September 16, 2015, Central, ChileM8.3 · 15 deaths · $600 million · 2,305 houses destroyed · 164 km
• September 4, 1958, Chile-ArgentinaM6.8 · 7 deaths · 122 km
• January 26, 1985, West Central, Mendoza, LA Ligua, ArgentinaM6 · 6 deaths · $5 million · 12,500 houses destroyed · 189 km
• July 8, 1730, Valparaiso, ChileM9.1 · 5 deaths · 82 km
• August 12, 1903, Mendoza, ArgentinaM6 · 3 deaths · 169 km
• April 17, 2012, Valparaiso, ChileM6.7 · 2 deaths · 65 km
• August 15, 1880, Illapel, ChileM7.7 · 2 deaths · 600 houses destroyed · 139 km
• April 9, 1985, Near Central Coast, Santiago-Valparaiso, ChileM7.5 · 2 deaths · 171 km

Significant earthquakes of 1687The 1600sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 5988.