Earthquake near El Centro, CA

This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 143 km (89 mi) from the epicentre. In El Centro, 50 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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.

Likely felt in: Salton City 32 km, intensity III · Borrego Springs 42 km, intensity III · Brawley 46 km, intensity III · Imperial 46 km, intensity III · Calipatria 49 km, intensity III · El Centro 50 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 97 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.5 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 1,700× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 78× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 55× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 4.5 about 97 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 200× 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.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. The previous largest was M 4.3 on 2016-09-27.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 29 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 22 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
2. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 20 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 16 km E of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 32 km N of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
5. 6.2 The 1987 Elmore Ranch, California Earthquake · 23 km ENE of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987

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 33.0183, -116.0202. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 2.2 10km SW of Niland, CA 13:29 UTC
2. 1.6 10km SW of Niland, CA 09:45 UTC
3. 1.6 16km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 06:58 UTC
4. 1.9 21km E of Ocotillo, CA 20:31 UTC
5. 1.6 13km WSW of Niland, CA 04:16 UTC
6. 1.8 12km WSW of El Centro, CA 10:41 UTC
7. 1.9 17km SSE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 08:45 UTC
8. 1.9 9km NNE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 22:33 UTC
9. 1.6 13km WNW of Calipatria, CA 14:19 UTC
10. 2.4 26km ENE of Pine Valley, CA 02:35 UTC
11. 1.7 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 21:01 UTC
12. 2.2 15km N of Ocotillo, CA 17:20 UTC
13. 1.9 7km NNE of Borrego Springs, CA 12:51 UTC
14. 1.7 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 12:06 UTC
15. 2.0 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 09:07 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 12:44 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.