Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.5md
Earthquake near Hollister, CA
No earthquake was likely felt in Hollister in the 24 hours to 3:40 am PST (11:40 UTC). The last one was M 2.0, 14 km (9 mi) WSW, at 2:11 am PST on 11 November 2026, estimated intensity II (weak) in town. Every earthquake near Hollister
This page: a magnitude 1.5 earthquake was recorded 42 km (26 mi) southeast of Hollister, CA, at 10:03 pm PDT on 2 August 2021 (05:03 UTC), 8.7 km deep.
USGS: 17km NE of Pinnacles, CA
56 km (35 mi) E of Salinas, CA · 102 km (63 mi) SE of San Jose, CA
- When
- 10:03 pm PDT on 2 August 2021 ()
- Where
- 42 km (26 mi) southeast of Hollister, CA · earthquakes near Hollister
- Magnitude
- M 1.5 (md)
- Depth
- 8.7 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- San Benito County, 7 km WSW
- Nearest mapped fault
- Ortigalita fault, 13 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 1919 days ago
Earthquake alerts for Hollister, CA
Get a notification in this browser when USGS records an earthquake near Hollister, 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 5 km (3 mi) from the epicentre. In Hollister, 42 km away, the estimate is intensity I (not felt). 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.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 5.7 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.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 2,600,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,900,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 170× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.5 about 5.7 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 2019-10-15 — about 61,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 15 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.1 Northwest of Huron, California · 40 km ESE of this epicentre
- 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 21 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 21 km W of this epicentre
- 5.8 29 km NE of San Lucas, California · 44 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.5 7 km SW of Hollister, California · 43 km WNW 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 36.6397, -121.0130. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Benito County, CA | 7 km (4 mi) | WSW | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Monterey County, CA | 52 km (32 mi) | SSW | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| Merced County, CA | 67 km (42 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Merced County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 88 km (55 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 98 km (61 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 103 km (64 mi) | N | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.
Aftershocks so far
53 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.
- 1.9 13km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
- 1.5 2km NNE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.5 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.1 12km NNE of Hollister, CA
- 2.0 10km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.0 12km NNE of Hollister, CA
- 2.1 22km NE of San Lucas, CA
- 1.8 13km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.5 9km SSW of Tres Pinos, CA
- 2.0 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.8 8km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.0 15km NW of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.0 8km N of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.1 7km NNW of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.7 23km WSW of New Idria, 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.