The United States Geological Survey reported a magnitude 4.8 quake in Chile near La Serena, Provincia de Elqui, Region de Coquimbo, only 16 minutes ago. The earthquake hit late at night on Wednesday, March 4th, 2026, at 10:08 pm local time at a moderately shallow depth of 40.55 km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.A second report was later issued by The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), which listed it as a magnitude 4.8 earthquake as well. Other agencies reporting the same quake include the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) at magnitude 4.8, The National Seismological Center (Centro Sismológico Nacional, CSN) of the University of Chile at magnitude 5.0, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake at magnitude 4.9, and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) at magnitude 4.8.Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter. Weak shaking might have been felt in Coquimbo (pop. 161,300) located 44 km from the epicenter, La Higuera (pop. 4,300) 44 km away, La Serena (pop. 154,500) 46 km away, and Andacollo (pop. 11,100) 83 km away.Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Vicuna (pop. 27,800) located 98 km from the epicenter, and Ovalle (pop. 77,100) 113 km away.VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.Earthquake data: Date & time: Mar 4, 2026 09:08 pm (GMT -4) local time (5 Mar 2026 01:08 GMT)Magnitude: 4.8Depth: 40.55 kmEpicenter latitude / longitude: 29.65°S / 71.63°W (Provincia de Elqui, Region de Coquimbo, Chile)Primary data source: USGS