Date in year · 1939 · The 1930s

January 24, 1939

On January 24, 1939, the deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people. Clay Shaw, Ali Khamenei, Karel Gott would arrive in the same year.

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1939

1930s

Featured · January 24, 1939

The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.

3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 of the Great Chilean earthquake of 1960, it is the single deadliest earthquake in Chile.

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Around 1939

The year in brief

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1939th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 939th year of the 2nd millennium, the 39th year of the 20th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1930s decade.

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What happened

On January 24, 1939

  1. 1939 The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.

    Deadliest earthquake in Chile

    3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). With a death toll of around 28,000, compared to the 2,231–6,000 of the Great Chilean earthquake of 1960, it is the single deadliest earthquake in Chile.

Farewells

Died on January 24, 1939

Maximilian Bircher-Benner Swiss physician (1867–1939)

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1939

The class of 1939

Others born in 1939

Clay Shaw 1939– American accountant, judge, and politician (died 2013)
Ali Khamenei 1939– Supreme Leader of Iran (died 2026)
Karel Gott 1939– Czech singer-songwriter and actor (died 2019)
George Edgar Slusser 1939– American scholar and author (died 2014)
Louis Andriessen 1939– Dutch pianist and composer (died 2021)
Yuli Turovsky 1939– Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (died 2013)

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