May 26, 1851 Earthquake: Copiapo, Chile

Copiapo, Huasco, Freirina and other inhabited points suffered greatly from an earthquake on May 26, 1851 at 13:15 [local time]. Many buildings were toppled, or at least heavily damaged. In one place, a yawning crevice 40 m long and 0.2 m wide appeared in the ground. All the buildings were damaged and many were destroyed at Vallenar. No less substantial damage was done in the southeast and northwest of the Chanaral mines region. The tremors were accompanied by a rumbling which lasted almost 2 minutes. An earthquake of such magnitude had not been observed in the Freirina region for 50 years.

The tremors were somewhat less severe at Caldera and Tres-Puentes. The earthquake at Coquimbo, so it seemed, had come from the north. The frightened residents ran from their homes, however the buildings suffered no damage. The earthquake was very moderate at Santiago, and took the form of extremely long-period and consequently slow oscillations. All clocks in the city stopped. The earthquake was almost the same or weaker at Valparaiso.

The earthquake was accompanied by numerous aftershocks. More than a hundred were counted at Copiapo before midnight. A week later, several shocks a day were felt. Individual shocks were noticed throughout June.

The earthquake generated a tsunami that was observed at Caldera and Huasco.

(above from reference #415)

Reference #252 lists May 26, 1951 at 1:14 pm [17:14 UTC], magnitude 7-7.5.

Reference #1206 lists May 26, 1851 at 17:10 UTC.

References #79 and #164 list May 26, 1851 at 18:14 UTC.

Reference #552 lists May 26, 1851 at 18:14 UTC, magnitude 7.2.