Earthquake near El Centro, CA

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

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 6 km (4 mi) from the epicentre. In El Centro, 49 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 5.6 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 2,700,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.6 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

The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-05-10 — about 35,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 31 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 21 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
2. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 19 km NNW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 14 km E of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 31 km NNW of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
5. 6.3 The 1906 Imperial Valley, California Earthquake · 49 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 19, 1906

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 33.0278, -116.0035. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 11km NE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 03:20 UTC
2. 1.7 14km NNW of Ocotillo, CA 02:59 UTC
3. 1.5 10km N of Westmorland, CA 19:58 UTC
4. 1.6 24km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 16:37 UTC
5. 2.2 24km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 16:29 UTC
6. 1.9 12km ENE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 14:52 UTC
7. 1.9 23km ESE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 11:59 UTC
8. 1.8 27km SSW of Ocotillo Wells, CA 09:16 UTC
9. 1.6 14km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 16:00 UTC
10. 1.6 20km WSW of El Centro, CA 07:14 UTC
11. 1.6 20km WSW of El Centro, CA 07:14 UTC
12. 1.5 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 04:20 UTC
13. 2.2 10km SW of Niland, CA 08:54 UTC
14. 1.7 10km SW of Niland, CA 08:53 UTC
15. 3.0 18km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 22:46 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 13:30 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.