July 24, 1912 Earthquake: Guayaquil, Huancabamba,cajamarca, Ecuador, Peru

Name: July 24, 1912 Earthquake: Guayaquil, Huancabamba,cajamarca, Ecuador, Peru
Start: 1912-07-24
Location: Guayaquil, Huancabamba,cajamarca, Ecuador, Peru

July 24, 1912 · M7 · Deaths: many

A magnitude 7 earthquake struck Guayaquil, Huancabamba,cajamarca, Ecuador, Peru on July 24, 1912 at 11:50:00 UTC, 30 km below the surface.

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: July 24, 1912
Time: 11:50:00 UTC
Place: Guayaquil, Huancabamba,cajamarca, Ecuador, Peru
Magnitude: 7 (Ms)
Focal depth: 30 km (19 mi)
Intensity: X, extreme shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 5.620° S, 80.413° W
Country: Peru
Region: South America
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

The toll

Deaths: Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Injuries: Many (about 101 to 1,000)
Damage: Severe (about $5 to $25 million)
Houses destroyed: Many (101 to 1,000)

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.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

July 24, 1912, at O6:5O. Earthquake in the north of the country which ruined the city of Piura and neighboring villages, causing deaths and injuries. Seibert (1930) estimated an intensity of X-X in the epicentral area; somewhat exaggerated in view of the type of antique construction. Within this area the provinces of Piura, Huancabamba, and Jaen in Peru and the coastal towns

of Ecuador, including Guayas, were affected. The city of

Piura, with many buildings, was most affected, only one percent of them being left habitable. The statistics of the epoch evaluate the losses at a million and half soles. Cracks were formed on the Piura River, with spouting of water. Damage to the railroad embankment. In the village of Huancabamba (1967 m above sea level) it caused cracking of walls, collapse of one bridge and the ruin of others.

At the harbor of Paita the ground cracked and damage was considerable. In the city of Trujillo and the port of Salaverry it was estimated to have an intensity of VII.

The macroseismic epicenter, judging from Picon (1926), was situated in the department of Piura in a region of

the Cordillera Occidental, between east of Huanca, NE of Piura, and NW of Huancabamba. (reference #1111)

July 24, 1912, 11:59 UTC, 5 S, 80 W, magnitude 7.0 MS. (reference #2231)

July 24, 1912, 11:50 UTC, 5.62 S, 80.413 W, depth 30 km, intensity X, casualties. (reference #1208)

July 24, 1912, 11:50 UTC, 5.62 S, 80.413 W, depth 30 km, magnitude 8.1 MS, intensity VIII. (reference #1220)

July 24, 1912, 11:50 UTC, 5.62 S, 80.413 W, depth 30 km, magnitude 8.1 MS, intensity VIII. (reference #1221)

Sources NCEI cites

The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.

#1111 Silgado F., Enrique (1973). Historia de los sismos mas notables ocurridos en el Peru (1513-1970), Geofisica Panamericana, vol. 2, no. 1, January 1973, p. 179-243. [English translation.]
#1220 Ocola, Leonidas (1984). Proyecto de Sismicidad Andina SISAN, vol. 3 - Catalogos Sismicos: Republica del Ecuador, Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Geofisica Aplicada, Lima, Peru.
#1221 Ocola, Leonidas (1984). Proyecto de Sismicidad Andina SISAN, vol. 4 - Catalogos Sismicos: Republica del Peru, Instituto Geofisico del Ecuador, Geofisica Aplicada, Lima, Peru.
#2231 Abe, Katsuyuki, and Shin-ichi Noguchi (1983). Revision of magnitudes of large shallow earthquakes, 1897-1912. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, v. 33, p. 1-11.
#1208 Askew, B.L., and S.T. Algermissen (1985). Catalog of Earthquakes for South America, Hypocenter and Intensity Data, vol. 7A - Peru, Centro Regional de Sismologia para America del Sur, Lima, Peru.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1912 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1912 Recent earthquakes near here This 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 2954. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem16958203, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.