By Juan Carlos de la Llera Martin with contributions from researchers at the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disasters (CIGIDEN), Santiago, Chile; researchers from University of Concepción; and Rene Lagos Engineers.
April 2015, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.
The EERI Learning from Earthquakes (LFE) Committee, led by chair Ken Elwood (M. EERI, 1994), reached out to colleagues in Chile to compile this article for the EERI membership that summarizes their initial observations from the April 1, 2014, M8.2 earthquake and tsunami. On April 1, 2014 at 20:46:50 local time (23:46:50 UTC), a Mw8.2 megathrust earthquake, with a depth of 20.1 km and epicenter 95 km NW from Iquique, ruptured an estimated surface of about 40 km (strike) by 30 km (dip) with a maximum slip of about 6.5 m (USGS). This earthquake occurred in a historic seismic quiescence zone in Northern Chile (previous significant Mw8.8, 1877). The seismic sequence started March 16 with an Mw6.7 earthquake, and foreshock activity that ended in a quiet period of 2.5 days. Following the main shock, a new aftershock (Mw7.6) occurred south of Iquique April 3 at 2:43:14 UTC (21:43:14 local time). Six people have been reported dead as a direct consequence of this earthquake.
Read the Report: M8.2 Iquique, Chile Earthquake and Tsunami: Preliminary Reconnaissance Observations (722 kB PDF)
