The force of the earthquake was so destructive that humans abandoned the affected region for approximately 1,000 years.

Archaeologists have found evidence of the most powerful earthquake in human history; it had a magnitude of 9.5 and triggered a tsunami spanning about 8,000 km, which forced people to abandon previously inhabited coastal regions for at least 1,000 years. The earthquake occurred approximately 3,800 years ago in northern Chile, when a tectonic plate rupture reshaped the region's coastline. The resulting tsunami was so powerful that it created waves up to 20 m high, which reached as far as the shores of New Zealand, scattering large boulders inland across the islands.