The 2014 Iquique earthquake struck off the coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on 1 April, with a moment magnitude of 8.1–8.2, at 20:46

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(23:46

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

). The

epicenter The epicenter (), epicentre, or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Determination The primary purpose of a ...

of the earthquake was approximately northwest of

Iquique Iquique () is a port List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the At ...

. The mainshock was preceded by a number of moderate to large shocks and was followed by a large number of moderate to very large aftershocks, including a M7.7 event on 3 April. The

megathrust earthquake Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthq ...

triggered a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

of up to that hit Iquique at 21:05 local time (00:05 UTC, 2 April). Similar-sized tsunamis were also reported to have hit the coasts of Pisagua and

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The city is the ca ...

Geology

A number of mid-sized quakes struck the same area in the preceding weeks. These quakes and the main tremor are associated with the boundary of the

Nazca plate The Nazca plate or Nasca plate, named after the Nazca region of southern Peru, is an oceanic list of tectonic plates, tectonic plate in the eastern Pacific Ocean basin off the west coast of South America. The ongoing subduction, along the Peru– ...

and the

South American plate The South American plate is a major tectonic plate which includes the continent of South America as well as a sizable region of the Atlantic Ocean seabed extending eastward to the African plate, with which it forms the southern part of the Mid ...

Earthquake

There was a cluster of earthquakes starting from the one occurring on 16 March with a magnitude of 6.7, and a large earthquake had been expected. The mainshock measured a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

of 8.1, according to the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT), although the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) put the magnitude at 8.2. This earthquake was smaller than what was expected, with a rupture of in length instead of the expected rupture. The earthquake was felt in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The intensity reached intensity VIII (''Severe'') in the city of

Aftershocks

There were several significant

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in Epicenter, the same area of the Mainshock, main shock, caused as the displaced Crust (geology), crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthq ...

s above 6.0 magnitude and many more of lower magnitude over subsequent days.

Associated events

Such large earthquakes can have effects far away other than tsunamis. A megathrust quake can shake the entire earth, but causes stronger movement and strain on the entire associated oceanic plate, beyond the few hundred kilometer rupture zone. Though too far to be an aftershock, a 6.0 quake on a thin protruding wedge of the

(Iquique quake shoved this plate) was reported off Panama within 12 hours of the main shock.

Tsunami

Under advice from the

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), located on Ford Island, Hawaii, is one of two tsunami warning centers in the United States, covering Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, as well as Puerto Ric ...

, tsunami warnings were issued for the

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n Pacific coastlines of Chile, Peru, and Ecuador shortly after the earthquake occurred. Chile was subsequently hit by a large tsunami in its northern territories, with a maximum height of in

. The tsunami warning was later canceled for all countries except Chile and Peru within a few hours of the earthquake. The tsunami warning was canceled for both Chile and Peru at around 4:58 UTC on 2 April. Hawaii was under a tsunami advisory for over 13 hours. On 3 April local time, tsunamis were observed in Japan. The tsunami reached high in Kuji,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

, Japan.

Impact

Chile

Five people died of indirect causes and one woman was reportedly crushed to death when a wall collapsed. A loader was crushed by a falling metal structure and died of the injuries afterwards. An additional three people were killed due to landslides and on April 4, a six-day-old infant died due to

hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...

, after she and her mother sought refuge in a tent. In

, over 200 people were hospitalized and an airport's control tower was damaged. Houses also collapsed in

. Electricity and water services were interrupted in the regions of

Arica y Parinacota The Arica y Parinacota Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Arica and Parinacota. It borders Peru's Department of Tacna to the north, Bolivia's La Paz and Oruro departments to the east ...

and

Tarapacá San Lorenzo de Tarapacá, also known simply as Tarapacá, is a town in the region of the same name in Chile. History The town has likely been inhabited since the 12th century, when it formed part of the Inca trail. When Spanish explorer Diego ...

. During the aftermath of the earthquake, 293 prisoners escaped from a women's prison in Iquique when a wall collapsed. Many returned voluntarily a short time later, while Chilean soldiers searched for the rest.

Peru

In southern

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, nine people were injured, four structures, including two temples collapsed and 81 houses, three schools, four clinics, three public buildings and a temple were damaged.

References

External links

M8.2 – 95km NW of Iquique, Chile
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Tsunami alert after 8.2 quake strikes off Chile
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BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

5 Dead After Powerful Quake Strikes Off Chile's Coast
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ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

Powerful earthquake strikes off Chile
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CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

Tsunami Animation: Iquique, Chile, 1 April 2014
–

National Tsunami Warning Center The National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) is one of two tsunami warning centers in the United States, covering all coastal regions of the United States and Canada, except Hawaii, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iquique Earthquake, 2014 2014 Iquique 2014 earthquakes 2014 disasters in Chile History of Tarapacá Region Iquique Province Tsunamis in Chile

2014 Iquique Iquique April 2014 in South America