December 12, 1908 Earthquake: Off Coast, Peru
An earthquake struck Off Coast, Peru on December 12, 1908 at 12:08 UTC. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- December 12, 1908
- Time
- 12:08 UTC
- Place
- Off Coast, Peru
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 14.000° S, 78.000° W
- Country
- Peru
The toll
The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
We cannot exclude the occurrence on 12 December 1908 of an earthquake significantly smaller than M 8.2 in South America, but the data at hand suggest that no great earthquake took place near the coast of Peru on that day[...]If a particular cataloging effort is intended to document cataloged origins that now appear spurious, in addition to presenting origins that are considered reliable, the listing for PERU1908 should be annotated so as to alert users that PERU1908 is a spurious event. (reference #12555)
8.2 magnitude, 33 km depth, 14 S 78 W, 12:08 GMT (reference #164)
8.2 magnitude, 12:08 UTC, 14 S 78 W, 114 depth (reference #9910)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- October 20, 1687, Lima, Peru
- August 15, 2007, Ica, Pisco, Lima, Peru
- October 3, 1974, Lima, Callao, Peru
- July 10, 1586, Lima, Peru
- May 28, 1948, Canete, Peru
- June 28, 1846, Peru
- September 30, 1946, Pisco, Peru
- August 21, 1871, Callao, Peru
- October 20, 2006, Central, Peru
- February 5, 1871, Chincha Islands, Peru
- November 13, 1655, Lima, Callao, Peru
- June 17, 1578, Lima,callao, Peru
More
Significant earthquakes of 1908The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1908Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
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 2844.