Earthquake near Manhattan 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 22 km (14 mi) from the epicentre. In Manhattan Beach, 4 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 4 km, intensity III · Redondo Beach 7 km, intensity III · Lawndale 9 km, intensity II · Hawthorne 10 km, intensity II · Palos Verdes Estates 10 km, intensity II · Torrance 11 km, intensity II · Inglewood 13 km, intensity II · Gardena 13 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 290 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 51,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 36,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 3.2× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.7 about 290 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 1,200 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 · 38 km NNW of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
2. 5.9 The 1987 Whittier Narrows, California Earthquake · 40 km ENE of this epicentre Oct 1, 1987
3. 5.9 1km ENE of Granada Hills, California · 44 km N of this epicentre Jan 17, 1994
4. 5.3 2 km SSW of Santa Monica, California · 14 km NNW of this epicentre Aug 4, 1927
5. 5.2 1 km SW of Las Flores, California · 24 km NW of this epicentre Aug 31, 1930

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 33.8817, -118.4508. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.6 4 km E of Lennox, CA 03:12 UTC
2. 1.9 4 km E of Lennox, CA 03:05 UTC
3. 1.6 3 km ESE of Lennox, CA 15:06 UTC
4. 2.3 4 km ENE of Hawthorne, CA 14:57 UTC
5. 1.7 4 km NNE of View Park-Windsor Hills, CA 22:20 UTC
6. 1.7 3 km E of Lennox, CA 19:45 UTC
7. 2.3 3 km ENE of Hawthorne, CA 19:40 UTC
8. 1.8 2 km E of Lennox, CA 19:40 UTC
9. 1.6 2 km NNE of Inglewood, CA 05:47 UTC
10. 1.6 4 km W of Sylmar, CA 16:42 UTC
11. 3.1 4 km SSE of Compton, CA 07:13 UTC
12. 1.5 17 km SSE of San Pedro, CA 16:48 UTC
13. 1.9 1 km SW of Bell, CA 16:15 UTC
14. 2.1 1 km N of Huntington Beach, CA 23:40 UTC
15. 1.8 2 km NW of Universal City, CA 18:39 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 14:18 UTC. QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

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.