Liquine-Ofqui Fault Zone
Chile · continental transform · 3368.1 km of mapped active fault in 71 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.28 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 103 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 3.43 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 3368.1 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 71 |
| Tectonic setting | continental transform |
| Slip types | Dextral, Sinistral-Reverse, Dextral-Normal |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | -46.95 to -37.95 latitude, -73.98 to -71.04 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 12 significant earthquakes and 8 tsunamis attributed to this system since 1562.
The deadliest was the 22 May 1960 magnitude 9.5 earthquake (Chile: Puerto Montt, Valdivia), which killed 2,226 people.
The most recent entry is the 21 April 2007 magnitude 6.2 earthquake (Chile: Southern), which killed 10 people.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 3,638 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May 1960 | tsunami (waves to 25 m) | Southern Chile | 2,226 dead, 58,622 homes destroyed, $1,000 million damage |
| 22 May 1960 | magnitude 9.5 earthquake | Chile: Puerto Montt, Valdivia | 2,226 dead, 58,622 homes destroyed, $1,000 million damage |
| 16 December 1575 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Valdivia | 1,321 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 16 December 1575 | tsunami | Southern Chile | 1,321 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 25 May 1751 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Concepcion, Chillan, Talca, Tutuben, Curico | 65 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 25 May 1751 | tsunami (waves to 3.5 m) | Central Chile | 65 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 7 November 1837 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Valdivia | 16 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 7 November 1837 | tsunami (waves to 6 m) | Southern Chile | 16 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 21 April 2007 | tsunami (waves to 50 m) | Southern Chile | 10 dead, damage under $1 million |
| 21 April 2007 | magnitude 6.2 earthquake | Chile: Southern | 10 dead, damage under $1 million |
| 21 May 1960 | magnitude 8.2 earthquake | Chile: Central | damage under $1 million |
| 24 December 1737 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | Chile: Valdivia, Chiloe | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 28 October 1562 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | Chile | damage $5 to 25 million |
| 10 May 1975 | magnitude 7.7 earthquake | Chile: Central | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 21 November 1927 | magnitude 7.1 earthquake | Chile: Southern | - |
| 20 August 1920 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | Chile: off Coast Central | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 3 May 2004 | magnitude 6.6 earthquake | Chile: Canete | damage under $1 million |
| 20 August 1920 | tsunami (waves to 1.4 m) | Central Chile | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 21 May 1960 | tsunami (waves to 0.5 m) | Central Chile | damage under $1 million |
| 21 November 1927 | tsunami | Southern Chile | - |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Who to listen to if you live here
SENAPRED, National Disaster Prevention and Response Service is the agency that tells people on this system what to do. https://senapred.cl/ (in Spanish)
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.