1971 Aconcagua earthquake

The earthquake caused widespread damage across central Chile, with the port city of Valparaíso being the most affected. A total of 83 people were killed, a further 447 were injured and 40,000 made homeless.^[1] Most of the deaths were a result of collapsed walls in buildings of adobe or unreinforced brick construction, this was even the case in areas where the shaking only reached VI MMI. Total losses were estimated as about US$250 million.^[2]

35,000 homes were either completely destroyed or damaged do badly that they had to be abandoned. 72% of schools of adobe construction were seriously damaged as were 50% of those of reinforced masonry. Only 10% of schools built using other construction methods were seriously affected. 66% of hospitals of adobe and 40% of reinforced masonry construction suffered serious damage. Of the 38 hospitals in the affected zone, there was a loss of 1,410 bed capacity out of a total of 8,273 beds in all.^[2]

Earth dams constructed for irrigation purposes were variably affected with some having serious damage. Some tailing dams in the area collapsed and one death resulted from this. The water supply to the cities of Valparaiso and Viña del Mar was seriously disrupted. The aqueduct leading from the Aconcagua River at Las Vegas was affected by cracks and fissures that took 19 days to repair. The other aqueduct from Concón and the reservoir at Peñuelas were both out of action for 2–3 days. The building that supplied the port of San Antonio and other small settlements was damaged and the supply was disrupted for two weeks. The railway from Santiago to Valparaiso was closed for ten days, mainly due to a landslip. The tunnel at Illapel was closed due to failure of the retaining walls. Several railway bridges were damaged and some embankments were affected, although these were quickly repaired.^[2]

• List of earthquakes in 1971
• List of earthquakes in Chile