Earthquake near Hermosa Beach, 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 10 km (6 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: Redondo Beach in town, intensity II · Manhattan Beach 4 km, intensity II · Palos Verdes Estates 6 km, intensity II · Torrance 6 km, intensity II · Lawndale 6 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 9 km, intensity II · Gardena 10 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 43 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 350,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 250,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 22× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.1 about 43 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 4,600 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 42 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 45 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 38 km NE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
4. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 48 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
5. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 19 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927

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 33.8510, -118.4052. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.8 14km NNE of Avalon, CA 07:19 UTC
2. 1.8 3km ESE of Fountain Valley, CA 10:58 UTC
3. 1.5 1km WSW of Baldwin Hills, CA 00:12 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. 1.7 1km NNE of Carson, CA 19:04 UTC
8. 2.3 31km S of Malibu, CA 00:27 UTC
9. 1.7 9km SSE of Malibu Beach, CA 22:07 UTC
10. 1.9 4km E of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA 21:51 UTC
11. 1.6 5km NW of Florence-Graham, CA 21:41 UTC
12. 2.5 17km WSW of El Segundo, CA 10:50 UTC
13. 1.5 6km SSW of Malibu, CA 14:16 UTC
14. 1.5 2km ENE of Carson, CA 04:19 UTC
15. 1.8 0km NE of Lennox, CA 06:42 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 20:36 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.