EARTHQUAKEM4.5

M4.5 earthquake near Atocha, Bolivia

Map: the earthquake near Atocha, Bolivia, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 58 km (36 mi) southwest of Atocha, Bolivia on Friday, October 23, 2026 at 02:45 UTC, at a depth of 236 km (147 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 440 km (273 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.5
Depth236 km (147 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 23 02:45
Location21.35°S 66.58°W
Nearest townAtocha · 58 km
Energy85 tons TNT
Aftershocks M2.5+0
Tsunami flagNo
See it on the live 3D globe →Watch live on YouTube🔔 Get alerts near you

Why here?

This earthquake struck 236 km (147 mi) down, about 483 km (300 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 3 days after it, USGS recorded no smaller earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 100 km (62 mi).

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 71 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 23, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

More from around the world