Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5ml
Earthquake near Newport Beach, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Newport Beach in the 24 hours to 1:48 am PST (09:48 UTC). The last one was M 3.2, 30 km (19 mi) NW, at 12:44 am PDT on 9 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Newport Beach
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Newport Beach, CA, at 5:37 am PDT on 24 October 2026 (12:37 UTC), 13 km deep.
USGS: 5 km NW of Newport Beach, CA
5 km (3 mi) WSW of Costa Mesa, CA · 58 km (36 mi) SE of Los Angeles, CA
- When
- 5:37 am PDT on 24 October 2026 ()
- Where
- 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Newport Beach, CA · earthquakes near Newport Beach
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (ml)
- Depth
- 13 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Orange County, 18 km E
- Nearest mapped fault
- Newport-Inglewood-Rose Canyon fault, under 1 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 19 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Newport Beach, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Newport Beach, 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 minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.
At this magnitude and depth it was probably too small to be felt, even directly above it. 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: Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Westminster, Irvine, Garden Grove.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 4.7 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.5 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 3,200,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 2,300,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 200× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 4.7 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 4.5 on 2020-09-19 — about 42,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 4 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 47 km NNW of this epicentre
- 5.4 5km S of Chino Hills, CA · 38 km NNE of this epicentre
- 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 4 km SW of this epicentre
- 5.2 8km ENE of Trabuco Canyon, CA · 42 km E 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 33.6517, -117.9665. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange County, CA | 18 km (11 mi) | E | earthquakes near Orange County |
| Los Angeles County, CA | 66 km (41 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Los Angeles County |
| San Diego County, CA | 131 km (81 mi) | ESE | earthquakes near San Diego County |
| Ventura County, CA | 133 km (83 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Ventura County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
26 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.1 1 km SSE of Yorba Linda, CA
- 1.3 3 km SW of Yorba Linda, CA
- 0.6 3 km SSW of Charter Oak, CA
- 1.5 3 km WNW of Signal Hill, CA
- 1.6 7 km SSE of Home Gardens, CA
- 1.4 1 km ESE of Home Gardens, CA
- 1.2 2 km SE of Home Gardens, CA
- 0.5 2 km ENE of South El Monte, CA
- 1.3 3 km WNW of La Mirada, CA
- 1.8 4 km SE of Home Gardens, CA
- 1.1 4 km SE of Home Gardens, CA
- 1.8 5 km ESE of Yorba Linda, CA
- 1.5 2 km E of Placentia, CA
- 1.8 2 km ENE of Gardena, CA
- 1.4 7 km SE of San Pedro, 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.
Revisions
USGS refines a solution as more stations report. Every change we have seen is listed here.
| What changed | From | To | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| review status | automatic | reviewed | |
| longitude | -117.97 | -117.97 | |
| latitude | 33.65 | 33.65 | |
| depth | 13.15 | 12.7 | |
| location | 9 km SSW of Huntington Beach, CA | 5 km NW of Newport Beach, CA | |
| longitude | -118.05 | -117.97 | |
| latitude | 33.63 | 33.65 | |
| depth | 13.35 | 13.15 | |
| magnitude | 1.58 | 1.46 |
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.