KGS Home > Geologic Hazards
Magnitude 8.8 Maule Region of Chile earthquake on January 12, 2010

A great earthquake occurred at 03:34:14 (UTC) on Saturday, February 27.The magnitude 8.8 earthquake occurred at a depth of 35 kilometers (21.7 miles).  The earthquake caused significant damage and casualties in the region.  

For more information on this event, see this USGS site: https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010tfan.php

A tsunami warning was issued for Hawaii after the earthquake occurred; however the tsunami was not destructive.  Data for the tsunami created by this earthquake at Hawaii are as follows:

HAWAII MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

 GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
 -------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
 KAWAIHAE HAWAII      20.0N 155.8W  22:11   0.52M /  1.7FT  24MIN
 BARBERS PT HI        21.3N 158.1W  21:40   0.19M /  0.6FT  76MIN
 KAUMALAPAU HAWAII    20.8N 156.9W  21:36   0.18M /  0.6FT  56MIN
 KAHULUI MAUI         20.9N 156.5W  21:47   0.98M /  3.2FT  22MIN
 NAWILIWILI KAUAI     22.0N 159.4W  21:51   0.28M /  0.9FT  44MIN
 PAGO PAGO AS         14.3S 170.7W  21:32   0.66M /  2.2FT  12MIN

 LAT  - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
 LON  - LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
 TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (UTC/GREENWICH TIME)
 AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
        IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
        VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
 PER  - PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

The earthquake was recorded on instruments in the Kentucky Seismic and Strong-Motion Network, operated jointly by the Kentucky Geological Survey and the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kentucky.

The graphic below is the actual record of the earthquake made by 8 Network instruments.

Download PDF version of this poster