November 30, 1976 Earthquake: Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, Chile

Name: November 30, 1976 Earthquake: Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, Chile
Start: 1976-11-30
Location: Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, Chile

November 30, 1976 · M7.3 · 1 death

A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, Chile on November 30, 1976 at 00:40:57 UTC, 82 km below the surface. It killed 1 person.

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: November 30, 1976
Time: 00:40:57 UTC
Place: Pozo Almonte, Oficina Victoria, Arica, Chile
Magnitude: 7.3 (mb)
Magnitude scales: mb 7.3 · Unspecified 7.3
Focal depth: 82 km (51 mi)
Intensity: VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
Tsunami: None recorded
Epicenter: 20.520° S, 68.920° W
Country: Chile
Region: South America
USGS record: The USGS’s page for this earthquake

mb: body-wave (P-wave) magnitude. Unspecified: the method was not stated in the published sources. NCEI’s headline magnitude is the best of these for the earthquake.

The toll

Deaths: 1
Injuries: 13
Damage: Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Houses damaged: 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.

Magnitude estimates

The magnitudes the USGS catalog lists for this earthquake, by scale and by who computed them. NCEI’s own scales are in the table above.

Mag.	Scale	Computed by	Notes
6.5	mb, body-wave	USGS National Earthquake Information Center	Preferred · Reviewed
7.54	Mw, moment	ISC-GEM global catalog	Final · ±0.1
7.5	Mwc, centroid moment	Global CMT project	Preliminary

Sources NCEI cites

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

#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.
#45 U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (1928-1986). United States Earthquakes, Annual publication, published 1928-1986. vol.s for 1928-1965 issued by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey; volumes for 1966-1969 issued by the National Earthquake Information Center; volume for 1970 issued by the National Geophysical Data Center; volumes for 1971-1972 issued by the National Geophysical And Solar-Terrestrial Data Center; volumes for 1973-1980 published jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey; volumes for 1981-1986 published by the U.S. Geological Survey. [on shelf]
#1053 National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) (1971 to 2013). Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE), a weekly and monthly publication, National Earthquake Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Golden, Colorado, 1971 to 2013.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

Significant earthquakes of 1976 The 1900s Every quake the USGS located in 1976 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 4755. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event usp0000kjc, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.