In Santiago, the tower of the cathedral was destroyed by the tremor, although no other major damage was reported in the rest of the city.

[3] The tsunami also destroyed the new settlement at the Juan Fernández Islands, where 35 people died, including the first governor, Navarro Santaella, and his wife.

[5] The major consequence of the earthquake was the relocation of the city (14 years after the quake) from its original location, in part as a response by the residents to the successive destructions by the tsunamis of 1730 and 1751.

The chosen location (after a long controversy between the civil authorities and the church, headed by Bishop José de Toro y Zambrano Romo) was the Valle de la Mocha, where Concepción presently lies.

Although the majority of sources and accounts make reference to the early morning of May 25, 1751, as the date of the earthquake, other records indicate that it was on the night of May 24.