Earthquake near Huntington Park, 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Huntington Park, 3 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: Huntington Park 3 km, intensity II · Maywood 4 km, intensity II · Florence-Graham 4 km, intensity II · Bell 5 km, intensity II · Los Angeles 6 km, intensity II · East Los Angeles 6 km, intensity II · South Gate 6 km, intensity II · Bell Gardens 8 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 58 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.2 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 260,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 180,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 16× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.2 about 58 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 3,300 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 · 37 km NW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.6 1971 San Fernando Earthquake, California · 48 km NNW of this epicentre Feb 9, 1971
3. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 47 km SSE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
4. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 15 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
5. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 39 km NW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994

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 34.0042, -118.2273. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.7 14 km S of Malibu Beach, CA 15:25 UTC
2. 1.5 4 km WNW of Malibu Beach, CA 12:38 UTC
3. 1.7 17 km NNE of Bradbury, CA 10:32 UTC
4. 1.8 4 km SSE of Highland Park, CA 02:00 UTC
5. 2.9 4 km SSE of Highland Park, CA 12:07 UTC
6. 1.9 1 km SE of Yorba Linda, CA 00:27 UTC
7. 2.5 2 km ESE of Yorba Linda, CA 00:26 UTC
8. 1.7 4 km S of San Pedro, CA 23:18 UTC
9. 1.6 2 km NNE of Carson, CA 05:29 UTC
10. 1.6 3 km S of La Canada Flintridge, CA 18:57 UTC
11. 1.5 4 km SSW of Westminster, CA 21:02 UTC
12. 1.8 2 km NW of Marina del Rey, CA 14:57 UTC
13. 2.1 5 km W of Hermosa Beach, CA 11:42 UTC
14. 1.9 3 km N of East Los Angeles, CA 12:32 UTC
15. 2.8 4 km SSE of Highland Park, CA 22:05 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:25 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.