1994 Bolivia earthquake

1994 Bolivia earthquake
UTC time1994-06-09 00:33:16
ISC event168418
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local dateJune 8, 1994 (1994-06-08)
Local time20:33:16
Magnitude8.2 Mw[1]
Depth631.3 km (392 mi)[1]
Epicenter13°8′S 67°6′W / 13.133°S 67.100°W / -13.133; -67.100[1]
Areas affectedBolivia
Max. intensityMMI IV (Light)[1]
Casualties5 dead (unconfirmed)

The 1994 Bolivia earthquake occurred on June 8, 1994 at 20:33 local time. The epicenter was located in a sparsely populated region in the Amazon jungle, 55 kilometres (34 mi) NNW of Reyes, Bolivia.[1]

The Harvard CMT Project assigned it a focal depth of 647 km (402 mi), while USGS assigned it a depth of 631.3 km (392.3 mi). Both assigned it a magnitude Mw of 8.2,[1][2] making it, at the time, the largest earthquake since the 1977 Sumba earthquake, before being surpassed less than 4 months later by an 8.3 Mw earthquake in the Kuril Islands.[3] It is also tied with the August 19, 2018 Fiji Earthquake as the second largest ever earthquake recorded deep focus earthquake (where the focal depth exceeds 300 km (190 mi)), only behind the 2013 Okhotsk Sea earthquake,[4] while also being the largest in South America.[5]

Description

The rupture was located within the Nazca plate where it is being subducted beneath the mantle of the South American continent.[4] It shook the ground from Argentina to Canada and its oscillations were the first to be captured on a modern seismic network.[4] Such deep events are known as intraplate earthquakes because they occur within a tectonic lithosphere rather than at the boundary of two. The earthquake involved a particularly narrow slip area of 30 km (19 mi) by 50 km (31 mi). In 22 seconds, the rupture propagated with a velocity of 1.5 km (0.93 mi) per second, which is slower than the average rupture velocity of earthquakes.[6]

Effects

There were unconfirmed reports of five people killed in Peru's Arequipa and Cuzco provinces. Three deaths from Arequipa Province were attributed to a landslide while the other two in Cuzco Province died from falling debris or a heart attack. Many more were injured in landslides in other parts of southern Peru.[7] In Cochabamba, La Paz and Oruro, the windows in many tall structures shattered. There were unverified claims of buildings damaged in Arica, Chile, and Manaus, Brazil. Limited damage to buildings was reported in São Paulo, Brazil, and Toronto, Canada, as well.[8] In Chile, the tremors caused panic among residents of major cities, driving them out of buildings. It also disrupted power and communication services.[9] Due to the earthquake's great depth, it was felt at places far from its epicenter. A geologist with the US Geological Survey described the effects in Los Angeles, California, as a "very gentle motion". Similar effects were observed in Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Minneapolis, and Omaha in the United States.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f ANSS. "M 8.2 - 55 km NNW of Reyes, Bolivia 1994". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  2. ^ UN DHA Information Report No.1 United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs
  3. ^ "Latest Earthquakes". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  4. ^ a b c Wakefield, J. (1995). "Scientists Get a Closer Look at Mechanism of Deep Bolivian Quake". Eos. 76 (2): 9–10. Bibcode:1995EOSTr..76....9W. doi:10.1029/EO076i002p00009-02. S2CID 111307538.
  5. ^ "Latest Earthquakes". earthquake.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  6. ^ Zhan, Zhongwen; Kanamori, Hiroo; Tsai, Victor C.; Helmberger, Donald V.; Wei, Shengji (2014-01-01). "Rupture complexity of the 1994 Bolivia and 2013 Sea of Okhotsk deep earthquakes". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 385: 89–96. Bibcode:2014E&PSL.385...89Z. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2013.10.028. ISSN 0012-821X.
  7. ^ "Bolivia-Peru: Arequipa, Felt In N And S America". NGDC NCEI. National Centers for Environmental Information. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  8. ^ Broad, William J. (April 11, 1995). "Bolivia Shakes, and So Does Theory on Deep Quakes". The New York Times.
  9. ^ a b "Major Earthquake in Bolivia Is Felt as Far Away as Toronto". Los Angeles Times. 1994-06-09. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
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