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 10 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Manhattan Beach, 14 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: El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica, Palos Verdes Estates, Del Aire.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 14 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,100,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 760,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 68× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 14 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 25,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 12 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.7 Northridge, California, earthquake · 38 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 49 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
3. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 45 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
4. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 15 km NNE of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927
5. 5.3 The 1973 Point Mugu, California Earthquake · 46 km WNW of this epicentre Feb 21, 1973

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 33.8722, -118.5650. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

28 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. 1.3 3 km WNW of La Mirada, CA 03:01 UTC
11. 1.8 2 km SE of Chatsworth, CA 10:08 UTC
12. 1.8 2 km ENE of Gardena, CA 21:31 UTC
13. 1.4 7 km SE of San Pedro, CA 12:53 UTC
14. 0.8 1 km ENE of Baldwin Hills, CA 20:05 UTC
15. 1.3 3 km S of Highland Park, CA 15:29 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:59 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.