QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 5.3mw

31km SW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA

· 9.8 km deep · released about 1.3 kilotons of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Ventura County 82 kmSanta Barbara County 84 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 5.3 (mw)
Depth
9.8 km below the surface
Felt
7586 reports · strongest reported intensity VI
Measured shaking
intensity V (ShakeMap)
USGS impact alert
green
Tsunami
USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
Nearest
Ventura County, 82 km NE
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1480 days ago

This was a moderate earthquake. Shaking at this size can damage poorly built structures close to the epicentre. 7586 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.3 kilotons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 6.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 130× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 5.8× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4.1× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 5.3 about 1.3 kilotons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2,700× more

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.

Where

Epicentre 33.8198, -119.7340. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Ventura County, CA 82 km (51 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Ventura County
Santa Barbara County, CA 84 km (52 mi) SSE of here earthquakes near Santa Barbara County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 2.5 9km NNE of Santa Cruz Is. (NW end), CA
  2. 2.6 20km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  3. 3.1 23km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  4. 2.2 12km SW of Port Hueneme, CA
  5. 4.0 26km S of Port Hueneme, CA
  6. 2.5 23km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  7. 1.9 21km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  8. 1.6 21km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  9. 1.8 21km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  10. 2.3 20km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  11. 1.6 21km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  12. 2.5 19km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  13. 1.9 20km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  14. 2.0 19km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
  15. 1.6 19km NNW of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA

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

On USGS

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