Earthquake near El Centro, 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 47 km (29 mi) from the epicentre. In El Centro, 40 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: Salton City 35 km, intensity II · Imperial 37 km, intensity II · Brawley 37 km, intensity II · El Centro 40 km, intensity II · Calipatria 41 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.1 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 150,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 6,900× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 4,900× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.2 about 1.1 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 2.3× 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 5.3 on 2021-06-05 — about 1,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 37 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.6 The 1942 Fish Creek Mountains, California Earthquake · 13 km E of this epicentre Oct 21, 1942
2. 6.6 The 1968 Borrego Mountain, California Earthquake · 27 km NW of this epicentre Apr 9, 1968
3. 6.6 The 1987 Superstition Hills, California Earthquake · 8 km ENE of this epicentre Nov 24, 1987
4. 6.4 The 1954 San Jacinto Fault, California Earthquake · 38 km NNW of this epicentre Mar 19, 1954
5. 6.3 The 1906 Imperial Valley, California Earthquake · 41 km ESE of this epicentre Apr 19, 1906

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 32.9858, -115.9257. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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. 2.0 4km E of Heber, CA 12:40 UTC
2. 1.8 4km E of Heber, CA 09:50 UTC
3. 1.7 4km ENE of Heber, CA 04:09 UTC
4. 1.5 4km E of Heber, CA 01:30 UTC
5. 2.2 4km E of Heber, CA 01:25 UTC
6. 1.6 13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA 22:16 UTC
7. 1.7 13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA 19:34 UTC
8. 3.6 13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA 17:19 UTC
9. 1.7 25km SE of Ocotillo Wells, CA 17:06 UTC
10. 3.5 13km SSW of Bombay Beach, CA 16:52 UTC
11. 1.6 21km E of Julian, CA 05:02 UTC
12. 1.8 8km SW of Niland, CA 01:21 UTC
13. 2.5 8km SW of Niland, CA 01:20 UTC
14. 1.7 2km S of Brawley, CA 18:07 UTC
15. 2.1 3km SSE of Brawley, CA 18:06 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 22:28 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.