QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.8ml

Earthquake near Seal Beach, CA

No earthquake was likely felt in Seal Beach in the 24 hours to 6:41 am PST (14:41 UTC). The last one was M 3.2, 9 km (6 mi) NW, at 12:44 am PDT on 9 October 2026, estimated intensity III (weak) in town; 1,090 felt reports to USGS. Every earthquake near Seal Beach

This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) southeast of Seal Beach, CA, at 5:54 am PDT on 3 April 2026 (12:54 UTC), 15 km deep.

USGS: 5 km SE of Seal Beach, CA

6 km (4 mi) W of Huntington Beach, CA · 47 km (29 mi) SE of Los Angeles, CA

5:54 am PDT, Apr 3, 2026 · · 15 km deep · released about 16 lb of TNT

Every earthquake near Seal Beach Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Orange County 27 kmLos Angeles County 58 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
5:54 am PDT on 3 April 2026 ()
Where
5 km (3 mi) southeast of Seal Beach, CA · earthquakes near Seal Beach
Magnitude
M 1.8 (ml)
Depth
15 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Orange County, 27 km E
Nearest mapped fault
Newport-Inglewood-Rose Canyon fault, 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 223 days ago

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. In Seal Beach, 5 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: Huntington Beach, Westminster, Rossmoor, Fountain Valley, Los Alamitos, Cypress.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 16 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 5.8 930,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 660,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 59× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.8 about 16 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 12,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 10 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.4 The 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake · 10 km SE of this epicentre
  2. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 40 km N of this epicentre
  3. 5.4 5km S of Chino Hills, CA · 39 km NE of this epicentre
  4. 5.3 7km W of Newport Beach, CA · 11 km SE of this epicentre
  5. 5.2 2km WSW of Rosemead, CA · 41 km N 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 33.7045, -118.0660. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
Orange County, CA 27 km (17 mi) E earthquakes near Orange County
Los Angeles County, CA 58 km (36 mi) NNW earthquakes near Los Angeles County
Ventura County, CA 122 km (76 mi) NW earthquakes near Ventura County
San Diego County, CA 142 km (88 mi) ESE earthquakes near San Diego County

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

Aftershocks so far

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

  1. 1.9 1 km SW of Bell, CA
  2. 2.1 1 km N of Huntington Beach, CA
  3. 1.9 14 km SSW of San Pedro, CA
  4. 1.6 3 km NE of Silver Lake, CA
  5. 2.3 9 km SE of San Pedro, CA
  6. 1.6 4 km ENE of Carson, CA
  7. 2.3 12 km NNE of Trabuco Canyon, CA
  8. 2.0 2 km NE of Brea, CA
  9. 2.1 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  10. 1.6 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  11. 2.2 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  12. 3.0 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  13. 1.6 10 km WSW of Corona, CA
  14. 1.6 2 km WSW of Hermosa Beach, CA
  15. 1.6 2 km WSW of Santa Fe Springs, 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.

On USGS

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