The 1985 Algarrobo earthquake occurred on March 3 at 22.47 UTC (19.47 local time). Its epicenter was located on the south coasts of Valparaíso Region, Chile, close to the beach of Algarrobo. It had a magnitude of 8.0 Mw. The earthquake was felt between the Antofagasta Region in the north, and the Araucanía Region in the south, being felt with more power in Central Chile. It reached a maximum intensity of IX in the Mercalli intensity scale. The most affected zone was the port of San Antonio, in Valparaíso Region, together with Alhué and Melipilla in Santiago Metropolitan Region and Rengo in O’Higgins Region. The earthquake also affected Chile’s capital city Santiago with great intensity.
The quake left 177 people dead, 2 575 injured, 85 358 houses destroyed and about a million people homeless. Many landslides were registered too, pavement breaks with the destruction of Pan-American highway in several points, broken-down bridges and considerable damage in affected town’s infrastructure, with a long interruption on basic services. The damage was valued in more than 1 046 million US dollars.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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