Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.6ml
Earthquake near Lawndale, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Lawndale in the 24 hours to 11:29 am PST (19:29 UTC). The last one was M 1.8, 6 km (4 mi) ENE, at 2:31 pm PDT on 31 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Lawndale
This page: a magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded in Lawndale, CA, at 2:36 am PDT on 29 October 2021 (09:36 UTC), 11 km deep.
USGS: 2km ESE of Lawndale, CA
17 km (11 mi) SSE of Los Angeles, CA · in Gardena, CA
- When
- 2:36 am PDT on 29 October 2021 ()
- Where
- in Lawndale, CA · earthquakes near Lawndale
- Magnitude
- M 1.6 (ml)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Los Angeles County, 36 km N
- Nearest mapped fault
- Newport-Inglewood-Rose Canyon fault, 6 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1840 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Lawndale, CA
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Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
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 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. 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: Lawndale in town, intensity II · Gardena 2 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 4 km, intensity II · Torrance 5 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 9 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.6 about 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
The largest earthquake within 50 km since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-09-19 — about 22,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 42 km NNW of this epicentre
- 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 41 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 31 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 46 km NNW of this epicentre
- 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 20 km NW of this epicentre
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 33.8792, -118.3337. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County, CA | 36 km (22 mi) | N | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| Orange County, CA | 56 km (35 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Orange County |
| Ventura County, CA | 91 km (56 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
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.
- 1.6 5km SSE of San Pedro, CA
- 2.1 3km NE of Gardena, CA
- 2.6 2km WSW of Silver Lake, CA
- 1.5 0km SSW of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA
- 1.6 2km NW of Marina del Rey, CA
- 2.1 1km WSW of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA
- 3.3 1km SE of South Gate, CA
- 1.6 3km ENE of La Mirada, CA
- 1.5 1km E of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA
- 1.6 2km W of Inglewood, CA
- 1.6 1km ENE of Carson, CA
- 2.0 22km SW of Huntington Beach, CA
- 2.3 3km ESE of Carson, CA
- 1.5 2km ESE of Carson, CA
- 2.2 11km S of Malibu Beach, 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
- 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.