October 8, 1847 Earthquake: Coquimbo, Chile

Ref #2521847, Oct 8 at 11 a.m. Earthquake with epicenter in the the Petorca-La Ligua area. Felt in Santiago with intensity about 8. One dead in IIIapel. Strongly felt in Coquimbo, La Serena, and weakly as far as Mendoza. Estimated magnitude 7, possible 7.5.

Ref #12061847, Oct 8, 15:30 UTC, 31.61S, 71.18W, magnitude 7.3 MS, intensity VIII, casualties.

Ref #19081847, Oct 8. Part of Coquimbo other localities were entirely destroyed.

Ref #10551847, Oct 8, 16:46 GMT. Chile, Liquai, Petorca, Valparaiso, Santiago, Coquimbo, Atacama and La Serena. Intensity III which corresponds to an earthquake which destroyed towns and devastated districts.

Ref #117201847. On the 8th Oct., at 11 A.M., a terrible earthquake occurred in South America. In Valparaiso many buildings were cracked; at lllapel 6 or 8 houses were thrown down and 1 life lost; La Ligua and Petorca were nearly destroyed. The shock was felt at the same moment at points 100 miles distant, and a surface of 10,000 square miles quivered like a leaf.

Ref #117211847. Terrible Earthquake. On Friday, the 8th inst., an alarming earthquake occurred here at 11 o'clock in the morning. Its duration was 45 sec in the Port; through the Amandral it was more violent and protracted. The vibrations of the tower of the custom house were perceived with fearful distinctness. It is gratifying to state, however, that no material damage was caused. The walls of some building were cracked; but so far as we can learn none have fallen. The movement was from all accounts as perceptible to persons on board ships in the bay as it was to those on the shore; equally sudden, distinct and disagreeable. A gentleman who was in an English ship of war says the sensation was as if all the guns were coming through the deck. That the motion should thus be distinctly communicated through such depth of water as there is in the bay, is very surprising, it does indeed come through the earth alone. During the remaining part of the day, and the following night, several other shocks occurred. They were slighter and shorter, but still enough to cause alarm; and to induce many families to betake themselves to the street.

Much anxiety prevailed to hear from other portions of the country. The first rumors from the neighborhood of Coquimbo were that great destruction had been caused there. It was stated that the town of Illapel had been reduced to complete ruin. And again that all the finest buildings in Coquimbo itself had been thrown down. This we are happy to find was an exaggeration. Still the shock at lllapel was more violent than it was in this place. Six or eight houses, so says a letter written thence on the 9th inst, were thrown down and one life was lost. As the rumor in regard to Coquimbo have not been confirmed, it is hoped nothing serious occurred there. In the Capital, Santiago, also, the shock was more powerful than in Valparaiso, and some injury resulted, though it was trifling compared with the fears to which these heavings of nature give rise. What the immediate agency of such inconceivable power may be, is difficult to discover. Here a whole region of country, of ten thousand square miles, is made to quiver like the leaf on a tree, and that on an instant, for the time, so far as it can be ascertained, was almost simultaneous in places a hundred miles distant.