The epicenter was located about 90 km (56 mi) north-northwest of the capital Lima, which was almost completely destroyed, and the subsequent tsunami devastated the port city of Callao.

The total number of casualties, including those from the tsunami, was almost 6,000, although some chroniclers give higher figures for Lima, partly due to the inclusion of the effects of subsequent epidemics.

[2] The earthquake triggered a tsunami, which reached the coast half an hour following the shock, causing great damage at all Peruvian ports.

[7] The rebuilding of Lima was planned by Jose Antonio Manso de Velasco then the viceroy of Peru, with the help of the French mathematician Louis Godin.

A key part of these proposals was to restrict buildings to a single storey and widen the roads, but the plans were diluted following opposition from groups within the city and second floors were allowed as long as they used bamboo in their construction rather than adobe bricks.

[11] In 1817, 70 years after the earthquake and the tsunami, the Russian-American Company employee, head of the Sitka office, Kiril Timofeevich Khlebnikov (1784–1838) visited Callao.

His account of the events of what happened on 28 October 1746 may have slight factual mistakes, but he is generally considered a good witness of things he saw with his own eyes, and his attitude in writing history is characterised as sober and realistic.

There is an annual procession in which the image is carried through the streets of Lima, and it is customary for the faithful to wear purple during the month of October in commemoration.