M8.0 earthquake near Caldera, Atacama

What happened

A magnitude 8 earthquake struck 60 km W of Diego de Almagro, Chile on 4 Dec 1918, 11:47 UTC at a depth of 40 km.

Earthquakes of this size are classed as Great. Can cause severe damage across hundreds of kilometres and may trigger tsunamis. This was a shallow earthquake, which tends to be felt more strongly at the surface.

The nearest town in our records is Caldera, about 69 km away in Atacama, Chile.