The 2014 Iquique earthquake struck off the coast of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 1 April, with a moment magnitude of 8.2, at 20:46

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

(23:46 UTC). The

epicenter The epicenter, epicentre () or epicentrum in seismology is the point on the Earth's surface directly above a hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or an underground explosion originates. Surface damage Before the instrumental pe ...

of the earthquake was approximately northwest of

Iquique Iquique () is a port city and commune in northern Chile, capital of both the Iquique Province and Tarapacá Region. It lies on the Pacific coast, west of the Pampa del Tamarugal, which is part of the Atacama Desert. It has a population of 191,468 ...

. The mainshock was preceded by a number of moderate to large shocks and was followed by a large number of moderate to very large aftershocks, including a M7.7 event on 3 April. The

megathrust earthquake Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthqua ...

triggered a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

of up to that hit Iquique at 21:05 local time (00:05 UTC, 2 April). Similar-sized tsunamis were also reported to have hit the coasts of Pisagua and

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a Communes of Chile, commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The ...

Geology

A number of mid-sized quakes struck the same area in the preceding weeks. These quakes and the main tremor are associated with the

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment *Boundaries (2016 film), ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film *Boundaries (2018 film), ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip ...

of the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.

Earthquake

There was a cluster of earthquakes starting from the one occurring on 16 March with a magnitude of 6.7, and a large earthquake had been expected. The 8.2 earthquake was smaller than what was expected, with a rupture of in length instead of the expected rupture. The earthquake was felt in Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. The intensity reached intensity VIII (''Severe'') in Iquique, Chile.

Effects

Four men died of heart attacks and one woman was reportedly crushed to death when a wall collapsed. A loader was crushed by a falling metal structure and died of the injuries afterwards. Electricity and water services were interrupted in the regions of

Arica y Parinacota The Arica y Parinacota Region ( es, link=no, Región de Arica y Parinacota ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Arica and Parinacota. It borders Peru's Department of Tacna to the north, Bolivi ...

and

Tarapacá San Lorenzo de Tarapacá, also known simply as Tarapacá, is a town in the region of the same name in Chile. History The town has likely been inhabited since the 12th century, when it formed part of the Inca trail. When Spanish explorer Diego ...

. During the aftermath of the earthquake, 293 prisoners escaped from a women's prison in Iquique when a wall collapsed. Many returned voluntarily a short time later, while Chilean soldiers searched for the rest. 2014 Iquique Earthquake ShakeMap

According to the Peruvian emergency services, nine people were slightly injured, seven households have been affected, one temple has collapsed and electricity outages in the affected regions of

Tacna Tacna was known for its mining industry; it had significant deposits of sodium nitrate and other resources. Its economic prosperity attracted a wave of immigrants from Italy. Today, their Italian Peruvian descendants live in the city and many of t ...

Moquegua Moquegua (, founded by the Spanish colonists as Villa de Santa Catalina de Guadalcázar del Valle de Moquegua) is a city in southern Peru, located in the Department of Moquegua, of which it is the capital. It is also capital of Mariscal Nieto Pr ...

and

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...

occurred, which were restored later.

Aftershocks

There were several significant

aftershock In seismology, an aftershock is a smaller earthquake that follows a larger earthquake, in the same area of the main shock, caused as the displaced crust adjusts to the effects of the main shock. Large earthquakes can have hundreds to thousand ...

s above 6.0 magnitude and many more of lower magnitude over subsequent days.

Associated events

Such large earthquakes can have effects far away other than tsunamis. A megathrust quake can shake the entire earth, but causes stronger movement and strain on the entire associated oceanic plate, beyond the few hundred kilometer rupture zone. Though too far to be an aftershock, a 6.0 quake on a thin protruding wedge of the Nazca Plate (Iquique quake shoved this plate) was reported off Panama within 12 hours of the main shock.

Tsunami

Under advice from the

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is one of two tsunami warning centers that are operated by NOAA in the United States. Headquartered on Ford Island, HI, the PTWC is part of an international tsunami warning system (TWS) program and s ...

, tsunami warnings were issued for the

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

n Pacific coastlines of Chile, Peru, and Ecuador shortly after the earthquake occurred. Chile was subsequently hit by a large tsunami in its northern territories, with a maximum height of in

. The tsunami warning was later canceled for all countries except Chile and Peru within a few hours of the earthquake. The tsunami warning was canceled for both Chile and Peru at around 4:58 UTC on 2 April. Hawaii was under a tsunami advisory for over 13 hours. On 3 April local time, tsunamis were observed in Japan. The tsunami reached high in

Kuji is a Japanese city in Iwate Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 34,418 in 15,675 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kuji is in far northeastern Iwate Prefect ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

, Japan.

References

External links

M8.2 - 95km NW of Iquique, Chile
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United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

Tsunami alert after 8.2 quake strikes off Chile
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BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

5 Dead After Powerful Quake Strikes Off Chile's Coast
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ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

Powerful earthquake strikes off Chile
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CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

Tsunami Animation: Iquique, Chile, 1 April 2014
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National Tsunami Warning Center The National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) forms part of an international tsunami warning system (TWS). It serves as the operations center for all coastal regions of Canada and the United States, except Hawaii, the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexic ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iquique Earthquake, 2014 2014 Iquique 2014 earthquakes 2014 in Chile History of Tarapacá Region Iquique Province Tsunamis in Chile

2014 Iquique Iquique April 2014 events in South America