2010 Pichilemu earthquakes

A **6.9 earthquake** occurred on March 11, 2010, 40 kilometers southwest of Pichilemu, O'Higgins Region, Chile . A tsunami warning was made by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center Pacific-wide, although they warned of the possibility of local tsunamis within 100 kilometers of the epicenter (between San Antonio and Concepción).

Although news media first reported the earthquake as an aftershock of the February earthquake, the initial geological summary given by the United States Geological Survey  said it was a different earthquake. Though unchained by the regional stress caused by the February 27 earthquake, the March event was not a fast adjustment to February's thrust fault rupture between the Nazca and South American plates, but it was caused by normal faulting inside one of those plates. However, it has not been positively decided in which plate the earthquake occurred.

Within 6 hours, 10 aftershocks took place, of these 2 were of magnitude 6 or greater and 7 between magnitude 5 and 6.

The earthquake took place shortly before the new president, Sebastián Piñera, was sworn in, at about 12:15 PM local time (15:15 UTC), at the Chilean congress in Valparaíso, where the shaking was clearly felt. The presidents of Bolivia, Paraguay, and Ecuador were present when the earthquake occurred, however, the television footage showed that the inauguration was not interrupted.

Damage reported by the Chilean news media include a collapsed pedestrian crossing over Chile Highway 5, north of Rancagua. The most affected place by the earthquake was Pichilemu, the epicentre of the earthquake. It destroyed the Ross Park, most of the Agustín Ross Cultural Centre and many houses in Espinillo and Rodeillo.

## May 2, 2010 aftershock

The **May, 2 2010 Pichilemu earthquake** was a magnitude 6.0 M<sub>W</sub> earthquake that struck off Pichilemu, Chile, at 10:52 AM on May 2, 2010 at the epicenter, at a depth of . USGS described  the epicenter as  south-southwest of San Antonio,  west Regional capital of Rancagua,  northwest of Curicó and  southwest of the Chilean capital of Santiago.

After almost exactly three hours later a second quake happens in the same area with an intensity of 4.8 M<sub>W</sub>

More than 10 aftershocks happened on May 2 and 3.

## Related pages

- February 2010 Chile earthquake

## Infobox (earthquake)

- **title**: 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes
<small>_Terremoto de Pichilemu de 2010_</small>
- **timestamp**: doublet
- **timestamp-a**: 2010-03-11 14:39:43
- **timestamp-b**: 2010-03-11 14:55:27
- **anss-url-a**: usp000h94t
- **anss-url-b**: usp000h94v
- **isc-event-a**: 14554049
- **isc-event-b**: 14400686
- **local-time-a**: 11:39 UTC-3
- **local-time-b**: 11:55 UTC-3
- **image**: Structural damage after Pichilemu earthquake, as seen in April 2011.jpg
- **image alt**: House damaged by the Pichilemu earthquake, in the epicentre town, as seen on 16 April 2011.
- **map2**:
- **caption**: Above: House damaged by the Pichilemu earthquake, in the epicentre town, as seen on 16 April 2011. Below: Pichilemu earthquake wikt:shakemap, shakemap produced by the United States Geological Survey
- **magnitude-a**: 6.9
 6.3
- **magnitude-b**: 7.0
- **intensity**: Modified Mercalli intensity, MM X
- **location**: Pichilemu, Chile

- **countries affected**: Chile
 Argentina
- **tsunami**: #Tsunami, Yes
- **casualties**: 1 killed
- **pga**: 0.086_Peak ground acceleration, g_ (Curicó, Maule Region, Maule)