EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Calama, Chile

Map: the earthquake near Calama, Chile, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 36 km (22 mi) northeast of Calama, Chile on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 05:35 UTC, at a depth of 123 km (76 mi), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At this intermediate depth, shaking spreads out before it reaches the surface. The nearest city of a million or more people is Cochabamba, Bolivia, about 595 km (370 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth123 km (76 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 8 05:35
Location22.21°S 68.69°W
Nearest townCalama · 36 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+1
Tsunami flagNo
See it on the live 3D globe →Watch live on YouTube🔔 Get alerts near you

Why here?

This earthquake struck 123 km (76 mi) down, about 271 km (168 mi) from the nearest plate boundary on the surface. Quakes this deep happen inside old ocean plate that has sunk far into the mantle at a subduction zone, long after it dove beneath its neighbor. Their great depth spreads the shaking over a wide area but usually keeps it gentle at the surface.

The red lines on the map are plate boundaries.

How strong was it?

Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step releases about 32 times more energy. This magnitude 4.5 released roughly the energy of 85 tons of TNT. That is about 5.6 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, a quake people nearby feel but that rarely causes damage. The strongest earthquake ever recorded, magnitude 9.5 in Chile in 1960, released about 32,000,000 times more than this one.

Aftershocks

In the first 18 days after it, USGS recorded 1 smaller earthquake of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi). It was a magnitude 4.4 on October 13 at 23:26 UTC.

A stronger magnitude 4.6 followed on October 22 at 21:37 UTC, about 71 km (44 mi) away, so this one is now considered a foreshock.

Outside the United States, USGS mainly lists quakes of about magnitude 4 and up, so smaller aftershocks there are undercounted.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 129 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger within 300 km (186 mi) since 1900. The strongest:

Official details, updates and the shaking map: USGS event page.

See every earthquake on October 8, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

More from around the world