Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.7md
Earthquake near East Foothills, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in East Foothills in the 24 hours to 9:32 pm PST (05:32 UTC). The last one was M 2.9, 32 km (20 mi) E, at 9:44 am PDT on 31 October 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near East Foothills
This page: a magnitude 1.7 earthquake was recorded 8 km (5 mi) east of East Foothills, CA, at 1:33 pm PDT on 19 October 2017 (20:33 UTC), 8.5 km deep.
USGS: 7 km E of East Foothills, California
12 km (7 mi) NE of San Jose, CA
- When
- 1:33 pm PDT on 19 October 2017 ()
- Where
- 8 km (5 mi) east of East Foothills, CA · earthquakes near East Foothills
- Magnitude
- M 1.7 (md)
- Depth
- 8.5 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- Santa Clara County, 17 km SSE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Calaveras fault, 2 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 3309 days ago
Earthquake alerts for East Foothills, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near East Foothills, 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, people at rest would likely notice it out to about 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In East Foothills, 8 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: San Jose, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Campbell, Sunnyvale, Los Gatos.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 11 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,300,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 930,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 83× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.7 about 11 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 4.1 on 2017-10-10 — about 3,600 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 24 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 40 km SSW of this epicentre
- 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 31 km SSE of this epicentre
- 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 10 km SW of this epicentre
- 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 9 km SSE of this epicentre
- 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 20 km SSW 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 37.3752, -121.7302. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara County, CA | 17 km (11 mi) | SSE | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Alameda County, CA | 34 km (21 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Alameda County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 47 km (29 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| San Mateo County, CA | 57 km (35 mi) | W | earthquakes near San Mateo County |
| Contra Costa County, CA | 64 km (40 mi) | NNW | earthquakes near Contra Costa County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 67 km (42 mi) | ENE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
52 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 2.6 5km SW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.5 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.5 9km SE of Livermore, CA
- 1.6 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.6 2km E of Hayward, CA
- 2.0 20km W of Westley, CA
- 2.6 4km W of Cupertino, CA
- 2.5 22km W of Westley, CA
- 1.8 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
- 2.0 9km ENE of San Martin, CA
- 1.5 6km SW of Gilroy, CA
- 1.6 15km E of Seven Trees, CA
- 1.9 10km E of Alum Rock, CA
- 3.9 8km ENE of Alum Rock, CA
- 3.1 9km ENE of San Martin, 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
- 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.