Earthquake near San Jose, 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 26 km (16 mi) from the epicentre. In San Jose, 22 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.

Likely felt in: Milpitas 21 km, intensity II · San Jose 22 km, intensity II. Estimated for each town centre; each link is that town's own record.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 450 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 3.8 would have released about 32 times as much.

1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 34,000× the energy of this one
2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 24,000× the energy of this one
3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 2.1× the energy of this one
4. This earthquake M 2.8 about 450 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 92 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 20 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 47 km SSW of this epicentre Oct 18, 1989
2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 35 km S of this epicentre Jul 1, 1911
3. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 18 km SW of this epicentre Aug 3, 1903
4. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 13 km S of this epicentre Apr 24, 1984
5. 6.1 Near San Jose, California · 27 km SSW of this epicentre Jun 11, 1903

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 37.4242, -121.6717. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

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

Aftershocks so far

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

1. 1.5 22km ENE of Alum Rock, CA 18:23 UTC
2. 2.0 15km E of Seven Trees, CA 09:46 UTC
3. 1.8 9km NE of Milpitas, CA 13:25 UTC
4. 1.5 3km S of Loyola, CA 20:03 UTC
5. 1.9 8km NE of Gilroy, CA 10:53 UTC
6. 1.8 18km NE of San Martin, CA 15:24 UTC
7. 2.2 10km ESE of Alum Rock, CA 02:55 UTC
8. 1.6 4km S of Loyola, CA 21:22 UTC
9. 1.9 2km NNE of Union City, CA 03:36 UTC
10. 1.7 7km WSW of Gilroy, CA 07:42 UTC
11. 1.6 6km SSE of Sunol, CA 17:06 UTC
12. 2.3 4km SSW of Los Altos Hills, CA 10:07 UTC
13. 1.7 3km S of Loyola, CA 18:53 UTC
14. 2.0 3km NNE of Fairview, CA 08:39 UTC
15. 2.1 17km ESE of Livermore, CA 11:09 UTC

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of 23:29 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.