Earthquake near Manhattan 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 15 km (9 mi) from the epicentre. In Manhattan Beach, 18 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.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Hermosa Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Redondo Beach, El Segundo, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills Estates.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 30 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.0 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 500,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 350,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 32× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.0 about 30 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 4.7 on 2024-09-12 — about 12,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 8 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 43 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 21 km NNE of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927
3. 5.3 The 1973 Point Mugu, California Earthquake · 46 km WNW of this epicentre Feb 21, 1973
4. 5.2 1 km SW of Las Flores, California · 23 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 31, 1930
5. 5.2 13km S of Malibu Beach, CA · 13 km NW of this epicentre Jan 1, 1979

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 33.8262, -118.5892. 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. 2.7 4 km W of Manhattan Beach, CA 19:42 UTC
2. 2.1 1 km SSW of Bellflower, CA 18:02 UTC
3. 1.7 2 km NW of Universal City, CA 00:58 UTC
4. 1.6 13 km SW of Marina del Rey, CA 17:19 UTC
5. 1.6 4 km W of Willowbrook, CA 15:14 UTC
6. 1.9 2 km NE of Inglewood, CA 21:01 UTC
7. 2.1 2 km NNW of Tarzana, CA 20:38 UTC
8. 1.6 3 km SSW of Paramount, CA 00:56 UTC
9. 1.5 11 km S of Las Flores, CA 23:07 UTC
10. 1.8 7 km W of El Segundo, CA 15:24 UTC
11. 1.7 3 km E of Inglewood, CA 15:57 UTC
12. 1.9 27 km SSE of Malibu, CA 02:30 UTC
13. 2.5 27 km SSE of Malibu, CA 03:27 UTC
14. 1.7 8 km SW of Marina del Rey, CA 03:05 UTC
15. 1.8 8 km SW of Marina del Rey, CA 02:41 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 11:31 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.