It took place 7 minutes after midnight on 26 January 1985, and had a magnitude of 6.2 in the Richter scale.

It was felt as grade VIII in the Mercalli intensity scale.

In the affected Greater Mendoza area, where most of the provincial population is concentrated, one third of the buildings were built of adobe.

A report released soon afterwards stated that the main reason why the event did not produce thousands of casualties was its short duration (less than 10 seconds).

In addition, the fact that it was a summer Friday night might have led many people to be sitting outside their homes, chatting with their neighbors, rather than sleeping inside.