1647 Santiago earthquake
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| Date | May 14, 1647 |
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| Magnitude | 8.5 Magnitude Ms |
| Epicenter | 33°24′S 70°36′W / 33.4°S 70.6°WCoordinates: 33°24′S 70°36′W / 33.4°S 70.6°W |
| Areas affected | Chile |
| Casualties | 1,000 |
The 1647 Santiago earthquake struck Santiago, Chile on the night of 13 May (22:30 local time, 02:30 UTC on 14 May) and is said to have brought virtually every building in the city to the ground. The earthquake was felt throughout the so-called Captaincy General of Chile, an administrative territory of the Spanish Empire. The maximum felt intensity was XI on the Mercalli intensity scale and there were about a thousand casualties.
Chile lies along the destructive plate boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.
The earthquake was the most damaging in the history of Santiago. Damaged buildings included the Iglesia San Agustín (Saint Augustine Church). Inside the church, the Cristo de Mayo crucifix was undamaged except for its crown of thorns which had fallen to Christ's neck, despite the diameter of the crown being smaller than that of the head. The Bishop of Santiago, friar Gaspar de Villaroel, salvaged the image from the debris and dragged it from the church to the Plaza de Armas to display to the gathering survivors.
The cause of the earthquake is not known with certainty, although from contemporary reports, it appears unlikely to have been a megathrust event. It may have been either an extensional event within the Benioff zone, or a shallow focus intraplate event, possibly along the San Ramón Fault.
After the earthquake the Cristo de Mayo crucifix was kept in the home of the landowner Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer, better known as La Quintrala, until her death in 1667. Each year since 1647 on May 13, many townspeople gather to commemorate the earthquake.
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