Earthquake near Los Angeles, CA

This was a small earthquake. Shaking like this is often felt indoors nearby and very rarely causes damage.

At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 21 km (13 mi) from the epicentre. In Los Angeles, 11 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.

Likely felt in: Inglewood 4 km, intensity III · Westmont 8 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 9 km, intensity II · Florence-Graham 10 km, intensity II · Los Angeles 11 km, intensity II · Huntington Park 12 km, intensity II · Lawndale 12 km, intensity II · Willowbrook 13 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 220 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 70,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 50,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 4.4× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.6 about 220 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 2020-09-19 — about 900 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 22 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 29 km NW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.6 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, California · 47 km N of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 26 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 34 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
5. 5.8 10km SSW of Agua Dulce, CA · 47 km N of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971

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 33.9980, -118.3493. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 1 km SW of Rosemead, CA 17:43 UTC
2. 2.3 10 km SSW of Valencia, CA 10:48 UTC
3. 1.9 10 km SW of Valencia, CA 17:59 UTC
4. 2.3 22 km WSW of Manhattan Beach, CA 20:34 UTC
5. 1.6 13 km SSE of Las Flores, CA 00:29 UTC
6. 1.6 3 km ENE of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA 12:43 UTC
7. 2.0 11 km SSW of Malibu, CA 06:37 UTC
8. 1.9 2 km ENE of El Segundo, CA 15:03 UTC
9. 2.2 2 km N of Huntington Park, CA 08:52 UTC
10. 2.5 3 km N of Huntington Park, CA 08:47 UTC
11. 2.0 3 km SE of Marina del Rey, CA 08:42 UTC
12. 1.7 4 km NW of Sylmar, CA 11:48 UTC
13. 1.8 18 km S of San Pedro, CA 00:50 UTC
14. 1.8 2 km ENE of Carson, CA 01:04 UTC
15. 1.9 9 km NW of Malibu, CA 00:37 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:25 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.