November 28, 1970 Earthquake: Northern, Chile

Date

November 28, 1970

Time

11:08:40 UTC

Place

Northern, Chile

Magnitude

6 (Ms)

Magnitude scales

Ms 6 · mb 5.8

Focal depth

33 km (21 mi)

Tsunami

Yes: the tsunami it caused

Epicenter

20.940° S, 69.810° W

Country

Chile

Region

South America

USGS record

The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Ms: surface-wave magnitude. mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The record gives no deaths, injuries or damage for this earthquake.

1. #164 Instituto Hidrografico de la Armada (1982). Maremotos en la costa de Chile. Instituto Hidrografico de la Armada, IHA Pub 3016, Valparaiso, Chile, 48 p.
2. #1206 Askew, B.L., and S.T. Algermissen (1985). Catalog of Earthquakes for South America, Hypocenter and Intensity Data, vol. 5 - Chile, Centro Regional de Sismologia para America del Sur, Lima, Peru.

• May 10, 1877, Off North Coast, ChileM8.3 · 2,385 deaths · 95 km
• June 13, 2005, Tarapaca, ChileM7.7 · 11 deaths · $5.1 million · 544 houses destroyed · 124 km
• April 1, 2014, Iquique, Alto Hospicio, Northern, ChileM8.2 · 7 deaths · $100 million · 179 km
• December 7, 1953, Northern, ChileM7.4 · 3 deaths · $7.3 million · 173 km
• November 14, 2007, Tocopilla, Maria Elena, ChileM7.7 · 2 deaths · 146 km
• December 21, 1967, Northern, ChileM7.5 · 1 death · 90 km
• November 30, 1976, Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, ChileM7.3 · 1 death · 104 km
• June 14, 1959, Bolivia-Northern ChileM7.5 · 1 death · 199 km
• August 21, 1869, Iquique, ChileM6.8 · 21 km
• May 15, 1877, Huanillos, Northern, Chile42 km
• April 3, 2014, Iquique, Northern, ChileM7.7 · 82 km
• August 23, 1877, Iquique, Chile88 km
• March 12, 1878, Northern, Chile88 km
• April 12, 1878, Northern, Chile88 km
• July 14, 1881, Northern, Chile88 km

Significant earthquakes of 1970The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1970Recent 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 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 6432. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event iscgem790625, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.