October 16, 1981 Earthquake: Off Central Coast, Las Cruces, Chile

Date

October 16, 1981

Time

03:25:42 UTC

Place

Off Central Coast, Las Cruces, Chile

Magnitude

7.5 (Ms)

Focal depth

33 km (21 mi)

Intensity

6 on the Modified Mercalli scale

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

33.134° S, 73.074° W

Country

Chile

Deaths

1

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.

• August 17, 1906, South Central, ChileM8.2 · 4,000 deaths · $100 million · 101 km
• March 28, 1965, Central, ChileM7.3 · 400 deaths · $125 million · 193 km
• March 3, 1985, Central Coast, San Antonio, Valparaiso, ChileM8 · 180 deaths · $1.5 billion · 127 km
• July 9, 1971, Central, ChileM7.8 · 83 deaths · $236.4 million · 189 km
• November 20, 1822, Valparaiso, Quillota, Concon, Aconcagua, ChileM8.5 · 72 deaths · 101 km
• July 8, 1730, Valparaiso, ChileM9.1 · 5 deaths · 163 km
• April 17, 2012, Valparaiso, ChileM6.7 · 2 deaths · 169 km
• April 9, 1985, Near Central Coast, Santiago-Valparaiso, ChileM7.5 · 2 deaths · 175 km
• March 17, 1985, Valparaiso, Vina del Mar, ChileM6.6 · 1 death · 152 km
• December 19, 1986, Central, Valparaiso, ChileM5 · 16 houses destroyed · 92 km
• April 24, 2017, Valparaiso, ChileM6.9 · 95 km
• March 18, 1931, Central, ChileM7.1 · 123 km
• October 16, 1868, Central, Chile128 km
• August 20, 1871, Valparaiso, Chile128 km
• August 11, 1855, Valparaiso, Chile129 km

Significant earthquakes of 1981The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1981Recent 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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 4930.