Earthquake near Manhattan Beach, CA

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. In Manhattan Beach, 3 km away, the estimate is intensity II (weak). Estimated from magnitude, depth and distance with the intensity equation USGS Did You Feel It? uses; felt reports, where there are any, are the measurement.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Hermosa Beach, El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Del Aire, Lawndale, Hawthorne.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,500,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,800,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 160× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.9 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log₁₀E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

For this area

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 38 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 49 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 39 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 45 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
5. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 15 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927

Since 2016: the QuakeIndex catalogue (US, M1.5+), built from the USGS FDSN event service. Before 2016: USGS ComCat, M5+ from 1900. Distances are between epicentres. This is the record, not a forecast.

Where

Epicentre 33.8767, -118.4393. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

55 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

1. 2.9 13km W of Malibu, CA 16:17 UTC
2. 1.8 1km WSW of Inglewood, CA 05:18 UTC
3. 1.5 1km NE of Lennox, CA 04:12 UTC
4. 1.9 2km ENE of Studio City, CA 17:14 UTC
5. 1.5 6km SW of Marina del Rey, CA 02:02 UTC
6. 1.8 3km S of Huntington Beach, CA 18:31 UTC
7. 1.8 1km W of Manhattan Beach, CA 07:47 UTC
8. 2.4 1km WSW of Manhattan Beach, CA 04:23 UTC
9. 2.1 7km NE of San Pedro, CA 23:30 UTC
10. 1.6 1km ENE of Lennox, CA 10:34 UTC
11. 1.6 12km SSE of San Pedro, CA 13:21 UTC
12. 2.6 3km SSW of Signal Hill, CA 10:42 UTC
13. 1.7 4km WNW of Chatsworth, CA 09:59 UTC
14. 1.5 4km SE of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 12:28 UTC
15. 1.6 0km ENE of Universal City, CA 11:00 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 06:23 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

On USGS

• The official USGS event page — the source of record for every value above
• Did you feel it? Report it to USGS — reports go to USGS, not to us
• ShakeMap for this event, when USGS has produced one

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.