Earthquake near Hermosa Beach, 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 65 km (40 mi) from the epicentre. In Hermosa Beach, 6 km away, the estimate is intensity III (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: Manhattan Beach 7 km, intensity III · Redondo Beach 7 km, intensity III · Palos Verdes Estates 8 km, intensity III · Lawndale 11 km, intensity III · Torrance 12 km, intensity III · Hawthorne 13 km, intensity III · Rancho Palos Verdes 13 km, intensity III · Gardena 15 km, intensity III. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 3.2 tons of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 4.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Northridge, California 1994 M 6.7 52,000× the energy of this one
2. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,300× the energy of this one
3. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 3.6 about 3.2 tons of TNT
5. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 this one released 6.8× 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 4.7 on 2024-09-12 — about 55 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 14 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 42 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 49 km ESE of this epicentre Mar 11, 1933
3. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 43 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 · 18 km N 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 33.8442, -118.4650. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 1 km ESE of Baldwin Hills, CA 01:53 UTC
2. 1.7 2 km E of Granada Hills, CA 02:06 UTC
3. 1.1 2 km W of Chatsworth, CA 17:41 UTC
4. 1.5 3 km WNW of Signal Hill, CA 13:41 UTC
5. 1.5 1 km SSW of Chatsworth, CA 02:22 UTC
6. 1.4 1 km W of Chatsworth, CA 22:50 UTC
7. 2.3 0 km SSE of Chatsworth, CA 17:45 UTC
8. 1.4 1 km S of Chatsworth, CA 12:37 UTC
9. 1.1 2 km NW of Universal City, CA 09:44 UTC
10. 0.5 2 km ENE of South El Monte, CA 09:28 UTC
11. 1.3 3 km WNW of La Mirada, CA 03:01 UTC
12. 1.8 2 km SE of Chatsworth, CA 10:08 UTC
13. 1.8 2 km ENE of Gardena, CA 21:31 UTC
14. 1.4 7 km SE of San Pedro, CA 12:53 UTC
15. 1.0 3 km SE of South El Monte, CA 10:21 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 21:46 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

Revisions

USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.

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.