Peru-Chile Megathrust
South America · subduction interface · 7768.7 km of mapped active fault in 4 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 | 1.22 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 447 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 14.90 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 7768.7 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 4 |
| Tectonic setting | subduction interface |
| Slip types | Subduction_Thrust |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 700.0 km |
| Extent | -57.25 to -0.28 latitude, -81.99 to -64.88 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 58 significant earthquakes and 32 tsunamis attributed to this system since 1513.
The deadliest was the 25 January 1939 magnitude 8.3 earthquake (Chile: Chillan), which killed 30,000 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 9.1, on 8 July 1730 (Chile: Valparaiso).
The most recent entry is the 2 May 2025 magnitude 7.4 earthquake (Chile: Drake Passage).
Across the entries that record a death toll, 73,102 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 January 1939 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Chile: Chillan | 30,000 dead, $920 million damage |
| 13 August 1868 | tsunami (waves to 18 m) | Northern Chile | 25,000 dead, $300 million damage |
| 13 August 1868 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Arica | 25,000 dead, $300 million damage |
| 20 October 1687 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Peru: Lima | 5,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 20 October 1687 | tsunami | S. Peru | 5,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 17 August 1906 | magnitude 8.2 earthquake | Chile: South Central | 4,000 dead, $100 million damage |
| 17 August 1906 | tsunami (waves to 3.5 m) | Central Chile | 4,000 dead, $100 million damage |
| 10 May 1877 | tsunami (waves to 18 m) | Northern Chile | 2,385 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 10 May 1877 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Chile: off North Coast | 2,385 dead, $2 million damage |
| 8 February 1570 | magnitude 8.3 earthquake | Chile: Old Concepcion | 2,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 8 February 1570 | tsunami | Central Chile | 2,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 31 January 1906 | magnitude 8.8 earthquake | Ecuador: off Coast | 1,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 14 May 1647 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Santiago | 1,000 dead, 300 homes destroyed, damage over $25 million |
| 31 January 1906 | tsunami (waves to 5 m) | off Coast | 1,000 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 11 November 1922 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Chile: Atacama | 700 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 11 November 1922 | tsunami (waves to 5.5 m) | Northern Chile | 700 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 27 February 2010 | tsunami (waves to 29 m) | Central Chile | 558 dead, $30,000 million damage |
| 27 February 2010 | magnitude 8.8 earthquake | Chile: Maule, Concepcion, Talcahuano | 558 dead, $30,000 million damage |
| 14 February 1619 | magnitude 8.6 earthquake | Peru: Trujillo, Piura, Santa | 350 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 14 May 1942 | magnitude 7.9 earthquake | Ecuador: Guayaquil | 200 dead, $3 million damage |
| 3 March 1985 | magnitude 8.0 earthquake | Chile: Central Coast, San Antonio, Valparaiso | 180 dead, $1,500 million damage |
| 3 March 1985 | tsunami (waves to 3.5 m) | Central Chile | 180 dead, $1,500 million damage |
| 24 November 1604 | magnitude 8.5 earthquake | Peru: Arequipa; Chile: Arica | 174 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 24 November 1604 | tsunami (waves to 5 m) | S. Peru | 174 dead, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 17 October 1966 | magnitude 8.1 earthquake | Peru: Lima, Huacho, Huaura, Chancay, Supe, San Nicolas | 110 dead, $35 million damage |
These are the 25 deadliest and largest of 90 entries. 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.