Earthquake near Los Angeles, 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 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. In Los Angeles, 38 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Santa Clarita, Stevenson Ranch, Valencia, Hidden Hills, Val Verde, Castaic.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.2 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 2,500,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.5 about 6.2 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 4.2 on 2020-07-30 — about 8,800 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 · 9 km S of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.6 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, California · 20 km NE of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 50 km ESE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 5 km ESE of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
5. 5.8 10km SSW of Agua Dulce, CA · 20 km NE 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 34.2970, -118.5353. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 1km WSW of Baldwin Hills, CA 00:12 UTC
2. 1.7 5km NW of Chatsworth, CA 10:48 UTC
3. 1.5 7km ENE of Simi Valley, CA 21:56 UTC
4. 1.7 1km WNW of Las Flores, CA 15:50 UTC
5. 3.3 2km WNW of Las Flores, CA 15:05 UTC
6. 2.1 1km NW of Hermosa Beach, CA 13:52 UTC
7. 1.9 7km W of Castaic, CA 12:24 UTC
8. 1.8 10km E of Santa Clarita, CA 02:34 UTC
9. 1.7 17km N of Fillmore, CA 08:25 UTC
10. 1.5 11km NNW of Piru, CA 13:53 UTC
11. 1.6 8km N of Piru, CA 19:31 UTC
12. 1.7 15km SSE of Camarillo, CA 01:56 UTC
13. 1.7 9km SSE of Malibu Beach, CA 22:07 UTC
14. 1.9 4km E of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA 21:51 UTC
15. 1.6 5km NW of Florence-Graham, CA 21:41 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 16:18 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.