M5.3 earthquake near Vallenar, Atacama

What happened

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 47 km WNW of Vallenar, Chile on 2 Aug 2017, 20:03 UTC at a depth of 41 km.

Earthquakes of this size are classed as Moderate. Can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. This was a shallow earthquake, which tends to be felt more strongly at the surface.

The nearest town in our records is Vallenar, about 48 km away in Atacama, Chile.