The 1952 San Juan earthquake was a seismic movement

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 that took place in the province

Provinces of Argentina

Argentina is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city...

 of San Juan

San Juan Province (Argentina)

San Juan is a province of Argentina, located in the western part of the country. Neighbouring provinces are, moving clockwise from the north, La Rioja, San Luis and Mendoza. It borders with Chile at the west....

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, on 11 June 1952, at 12:31:37 a.m. It recorded magnitude 7.0 in the Richter scale

Richter magnitude scale

The expression Richter magnitude scale refers to a number of ways to assign a single number to quantify the energy contained in an earthquake....

. Its epicenter

Epicenter

The epicenter or epicentre is the point on the Earth's surface that is directly above the hypocenter or focus, the point where an earthquake or underground explosion originates...

 was at 31°36′0"S 68°35′59"W, at a depth of 30 km.

The earthquake was felt in San Juan with grade VIII in the Mercalli intensity scale

Mercalli intensity scale

The Mercalli intensity scale is a seismic scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake. It measures the effects of an earthquake, and is distinct from the moment magnitude M_w usually reported for an earthquake , which is a measure of the energy released...

. It caused damages in some locations in the south and west of the province, and a small number of casualties.