EARTHQUAKEM4.9

M4.9 earthquake near La Tirana, Chile

Map: the earthquake near La Tirana, Chile, with plate boundaries

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck 100 km (62 mi) east of La Tirana, Chile on Monday, October 26, 2026 at 19:36 UTC, at a depth of 120 km (74 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 420 km (261 mi) away.

MagnitudeM4.9
Depth120 km (74 mi)
Time (UTC)Oct 26 19:36
Location20.34°S 68.69°W
Nearest townLa Tirana · 100 km
Energy338 tons TNT
Tsunami flagNo
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Why here?

This earthquake struck 120 km (74 mi) down, about 278 km (173 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 4.9 released roughly the energy of 338 tons of TNT. That is about 22 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 7,900,000 times more than this one.

Earthquake history here

Before this earthquake, USGS had recorded 91 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 26, 2026 or earthquakes by day.

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