On September 16, 2015 at 7:54 p.m. local time, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck approximately 229 km (142 mi) NNW of Santiago, the capital of Chile. The earthquake occurred as the result of thrust faulting [25.0 km (15.5 mi) in depth] between the Nazca and South America plates in Central Chile, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Chile’s national emergency service immediately issued a tsunami warning and ordered the evacuation of its coastline. The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center reported an observed maximum tsunami wave height of 4.7 m (15 ft) in the town of Coquimbo, with wave heights of 0.5-1.5 m (1.5–5.0 ft) observed elsewhere along the coast. Early reports stated that 10 people were killed. The low number of fatalities for such a strong earthquake is attributed to Chile's strict building code and preparedness for earthquakes among the Chilean people. See also: Earthquake; Earthquake early warning; Earthquake engineering; Fault and fault structures; Seismology; Tsunami
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