Vallenar, Chile: Strong Mw 6.0 Earthquake Strikes the Atacama Region | 14 February 2024 #earthquake

The USGS reported a strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake near Vallenar, Chile on the 13th of February 2024 at 21:31 local time. The epicentre was located in the Peru-Chile Trench forearc, 1 km off the coast and 13 km southwest of Espantajos, Atacama region. The earthquake’s focus was shallow at 22.4 km deep. What caused this earthquake? This earthquake is related to subduction at the Peru-Chile Trench. This is a convergent plate boundary, where the eastern edge of the oceanic Nazca Plate is being subducted beneath the continental South American Plate. Thankfully, this is a green situation due to the remote location of the earthquake’s epicentre in the sparsely populated Atacama Desert region. The town of Vallenar is located 84 km northeast with a population of 45,000 residents and the city of La Serena is 113 km south with a population of 155,000 residents. There have been multiple reports of weak to moderate shaking. Don’t forget to smash that like button and subscribe for future earthquake updates.