The 1960 Valdivia earthquake occurred in 1960, striking southern Chile on May 22. Also called the Great Chilean earthquake, it is generally regarded as the strongest earthquake ever recorded by modern instruments.
Most studies estimate its moment magnitude at about 9.4 to 9.6, with 9.5 commonly used in scientific and historical summaries. The megathrust earthquake occurred where the Nazca Plate subducts beneath the South American Plate along the Peru–Chile Trench.
The rupture generated a devastating tsunami that crossed the Pacific Ocean. Waves struck Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, southeastern Australia, and the Aleutian Islands. In Hilo, Hawaii, waves reached roughly 10.7 metres.
The earthquake also triggered the eruption of Cordón Caulle volcano about 38 hours later. A common mix-up is confusing this event with the 1964 Alaska earthquake, another enormous earthquake that occurred four years afterward.