QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 3.3ml

Earthquake near South Gate, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in South Gate in the 24 hours to 8:43 am PST (16:43 UTC). The last one was M 3.2, 19 km (12 mi) S, at 12:44 am PDT on 9 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near South Gate

This page: a magnitude 3.3 earthquake was recorded in South Gate, CA, at 9:26 am PST on 1 February 2022 (17:26 UTC), 16 km deep. 1,137 people have reported feeling it to USGS.

USGS: 1km SE of South Gate, CA

21 km (13 mi) ESE of Los Angeles, CA · in South Gate, CA

9:26 am PST, Feb 1, 2022 · · 16 km deep · released about 1.2 tons of TNT

Every earthquake near South Gate Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Los Angeles County 28 kmOrange County 50 kmVentura County 97 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
9:26 am PST on 1 February 2022 ()
Where
in South Gate, CA · earthquakes near South Gate
Magnitude
M 3.3 (ml)
Depth
16 km below the surface
Felt
1,137 reports · strongest reported intensity III
Measured shaking
intensity IV (ShakeMap)
Nearest
Los Angeles County, 28 km N
Nearest mapped fault
Puente Hills blind thrust system, 3 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 56 days ago

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 47 km (29 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: South Gate in town, intensity III · Lynwood 2 km, intensity III · Bell 4 km, intensity III · Huntington Park 4 km, intensity III · Florence-Graham 4 km, intensity III · Maywood 5 km, intensity III · Bell Gardens 5 km, intensity III · Willowbrook 6 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.3 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 140,000× the energy of this one
  2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,500× the energy of this one
  3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,600× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 3.3 about 1.2 tons of TNT
  5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.5× 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 since 2016 was M 4.5 on 2020-09-19 — about 83 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 17 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 42 km NW of this epicentre
  2. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 40 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 17 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 45 km NW of this epicentre
  5. 5.8 The 1991 Sierra Madre, California Earthquake · 41 km NNE 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 33.9490, -118.2048. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Los Angeles County, CA 28 km (17 mi) N earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Orange County, CA 50 km (31 mi) SE earthquakes near Orange County
Ventura County, CA 97 km (60 mi) WNW earthquakes near Ventura County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.8 12km WSW of Newport Beach, CA
  2. 1.6 7km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  3. 1.7 6km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  4. 2.4 7km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  5. 1.8 7km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  6. 1.7 3km SW of Orange, CA
  7. 1.6 7km S of Newport Beach, CA
  8. 1.8 2km W of Lakewood, CA
  9. 1.6 3km SE of South Whittier, CA
  10. 1.9 17km SSE of San Pedro, CA
  11. 2.1 4km S of Huntington Beach, CA
  12. 1.9 4km N of Fountain Valley, CA
  13. 1.7 5km WNW of Huntington Beach, CA
  14. 2.3 17km SSE of San Pedro, CA
  15. 1.7 8km ESE of Yorba Linda, 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.