51 km WSW of Arauco, Argentina

46 days ago

USGS

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck 51 km WSW of Arauco, Argentina on 23 Sept 2026, 09:21 UTC. The hypocentre was 121.5 km below the surface — intermediate by seismological convention. No felt reports have been received so far. The figures have been revised 4 times since the first report. 1 other earthquake above our reporting threshold has been recorded within 250 km in the past 30 days.

Depth: 121.5 km
Latitude: 28.73°S
Time: 09:21 UTC
Magnitude: M5.3

EPICENTRE

View the official report↗

MAGNITUDE 5.3

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

The scale is logarithmic: this released about 89 times the energy of a magnitude 4.0, roughly the energy of 1 thousand tonnes of TNT.

121.5 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.