Earthquake near San Jose, 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In San Jose, 20 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: Fremont, Milpitas, Newark, Union City, East Foothills, Pleasanton.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 6.4 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.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,400,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,700,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 150× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 1.6 about 6.4 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

No earthquake of M4 or more has been recorded within 50 km since our catalogue begins in 2016.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 25 km SSE of this epicentre Aug 3, 1903
2. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 29 km SE of this epicentre Apr 24, 1984
3. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 36 km SSE of this epicentre Jun 11, 1903
4. 5.8 7 km NNW of Boulder Creek, California · 43 km SSW of this epicentre Sep 5, 1955
5. 5.8 The 1980 Livermore, California Earthquake · 37 km NNE of this epicentre Jan 24, 1980

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 37.5165, -121.8853. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 10 km N of Livermore, California 16:39 UTC
2. 2.2 0 km NE of North Gate, California 14:23 UTC
3. 1.7 13 km ENE of East Foothills, California 09:22 UTC
4. 1.5 2 km S of Loyola, California 18:23 UTC
5. 1.9 2 km ESE of San Ramon, California 02:45 UTC
6. 1.8 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 19:57 UTC
7. 1.5 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 19:51 UTC
8. 3.3 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 15:26 UTC
9. 1.9 2 km SE of San Ramon, California 04:42 UTC
10. 1.6 10 km ESE of Clayton, California 10:15 UTC
11. 1.9 0 km WNW of Loyola, California 00:04 UTC
12. 1.7 5 km E of Alameda, California 15:35 UTC
13. 2.0 5 km E of Alameda, California 15:04 UTC
14. 1.5 5 km E of Alameda, California 05:40 UTC
15. 2.1 11 km ESE of East Foothills, California 16:45 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 10:03 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.