QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.6ml

Earthquake near Home Gardens, CA

Yes. A magnitude 1.6 earthquake was recorded 3 km (2 mi) southeast of Home Gardens, CA, at 12:36 pm PDT on 20 October 2026 (19:36 UTC), 1.4 km deep. No felt reports to USGS yet. The magnitude and location are an automatic first estimate and may change.

USGS: 3 km SE of Home Gardens, CA

6 km (4 mi) E of Corona, CA · 86 km (53 mi) ESE of Los Angeles, CA

12:36 pm PDT, Oct 20, 2026 · · 1.4 km deep · released about 8.7 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 32 kmLos Angeles County 79 kmSan Diego County 115 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
12:36 pm PDT on 20 October 2026 ()
Where
3 km (2 mi) southeast of Home Gardens, CA · earthquakes near Home Gardens
Magnitude
M 1.6 (ml)
Depth
1.4 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 32 km SW
Nearest mapped fault
Elsinore fault, 7 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 1 hour ago

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 12 km (7 mi) from the epicentre. In Home Gardens, 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: Home Gardens 3 km, intensity II · Corona 6 km, intensity II · Norco 9 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 8.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.6 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,700,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,200,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 110× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 8.7 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 4.4 on 2018-08-29 — about 13,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 11 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.2 3 km SE of San Bernardino, California · 34 km NE of this epicentre
  2. 6.0 The 1910 Lake Elsinore, California Earthquake · 20 km SSE of this epicentre
  3. 5.5 The 1990 Upland, California Earthquake · 37 km NNW of this epicentre
  4. 5.4 5km S of Chino Hills, CA · 26 km WNW of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 8km ENE of Trabuco Canyon, CA · 18 km S 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 33.8578, -117.5023. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Orange County, CA 32 km (20 mi) SW earthquakes near Orange County
Los Angeles County, CA 79 km (49 mi) WNW earthquakes near Los Angeles County
San Diego County, CA 115 km (71 mi) SE earthquakes near San Diego County

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

Aftershocks so far

No further earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

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.

Revisions

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

What changedFromToWhen
longitude-117.5-117.5
latitude33.8633.86
depth0.241.43
magnitude1.461.64

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.