28 km NE of Villa Presidente Frei, Chile

50 days ago

USGS

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck 28 km NE of Villa Presidente Frei, Chile on 18 Sept 2026, 16:52 UTC. The hypocentre was 100 km below the surface — intermediate by seismological convention. No felt reports have been received so far. The figures have been revised 7 times since the first report. 1 other earthquake above our reporting threshold has been recorded within 250 km in the past 30 days.

Depth: 100 km
Latitude: 33.31°S
Time: 16:52 UTC
Magnitude: M5.2

EPICENTRE

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 5.2

Can damage poorly constructed buildings; well-built structures usually escape with little harm.

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 63 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, roughly the energy of 951 tonnes of TNT.

100 KM DEEP

At this depth the energy spreads before it reaches the surface. Shaking is usually weaker than a shallow earthquake of the same size, but it can be felt across a wider area.