Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 4.7mw
Earthquake near Malibu, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Malibu in the 24 hours to 12:50 am PST (08:50 UTC). The last one was M 2.3, 8 km (5 mi) W, at 4:53 am PDT on 16 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 2 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Malibu
This page: a magnitude 4.7 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Malibu, CA, at 7:28 am PDT on 12 September 2024 (14:28 UTC), 11 km deep. 18,609 people have reported feeling it to USGS.
USGS: 6 km N of Malibu, CA
37 km (23 mi) W of Los Angeles, CA · 16 km (10 mi) SSE of Thousand Oaks, CA
- When
- 7:28 am PDT on 12 September 2024 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Malibu, CA · earthquakes near Malibu
- Magnitude
- M 4.7 (mw)
- Depth
- 11 km below the surface
- Felt
- 18,609 reports · strongest reported intensity V
- Measured shaking
- intensity V (ShakeMap)
- USGS impact alert
- green
- Tsunami
- USGS flagged this event for tsunami evaluation. Follow tsunami.gov for official messages.
- Nearest
- Ventura County, 45 km NW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Malibu Coast fault, 2 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 75 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Malibu, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Malibu, CA. No account or email needed.
Alerts are on for .
Not a warning. An alert comes after USGS publishes a quake, usually minutes after the shaking. For early warning use ShakeAlert, through your phone's Wireless Emergency Alerts or the MyShake app.
This was a light earthquake. It is usually felt clearly nearby and can rattle windows and dishes, but damage is uncommon.
At this magnitude and depth, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 160 km (99 mi) from the epicentre. In Malibu, 5 km away, the estimate is intensity IV (light). 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: Agoura 12 km, intensity IV · Thousand Oaks 13 km, intensity IV · Simi Valley 24 km, intensity IV · Moorpark 26 km, intensity IV · Camarillo 27 km, intensity IV · Santa Monica 30 km, intensity III · Oxnard 37 km, intensity III · Piru 40 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 180 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 5.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 960× the energy of this one
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 43× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 30× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 4.7 about 180 tons of TNT
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 370× 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 (31 mi) since our catalogue begins in 2016. The previous largest was M 4.6 on 2024-02-09.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 16 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 31 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 38 km NE of this epicentre
- 5.6 7km NNE of Simi Valley, California · 32 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 29 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.3 The 1973 Point Mugu, California Earthquake · 24 km WSW 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 34.0565, -118.8127. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ventura County, CA | 45 km (28 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 53 km (33 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| Orange County, CA | 105 km (65 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near Orange County |
| Santa Barbara County, CA | 125 km (77 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Santa Barbara County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
56 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.6 3 km SSW of Baldwin Hills, CA
- 2.1 6 km N of Malibu, CA
- 2.8 7 km N of Malibu, CA
- 2.4 32 km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
- 2.3 32 km SE of Santa Cruz Is. (E end), CA
- 3.1 9 km WSW of Malibu, CA
- 2.8 6 km N of Malibu, CA
- 2.0 2 km E of Hawthorne, CA
- 1.9 5 km N of Malibu, CA
- 1.9 1 km NNE of Encino, CA
- 1.6 6 km N of Malibu, CA
- 1.6 1 km NW of Inglewood, CA
- 1.8 1 km WNW of Lennox, CA
- 2.9 1 km WNW of Lennox, CA
- 3.1 6 km NNE of Malibu, 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
- 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.