Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist
M 1.8md
Earthquake near Hollister, CA
Yes: an earthquake was likely felt in Hollister in the last 24 hours. M 2.0, 14 km (9 mi) WSW of Hollister, at 2:11 am PST on 11 November 2026 (10:11 UTC); the estimated shaking in Hollister was intensity II (weak). Every earthquake near Hollister
This page: a magnitude 1.8 earthquake was recorded 12 km (8 mi) southeast of Hollister, CA, at 11:29 am PDT on 27 March 2023 (18:29 UTC), 9.6 km deep.
USGS: 3km ESE of Tres Pinos, CA
74 km (46 mi) SE of San Jose, CA · 32 km (20 mi) ENE of Salinas, CA
- When
- 11:29 am PDT on 27 March 2023 ()
- Where
- 12 km (8 mi) southeast of Hollister, CA · earthquakes near Hollister
- Magnitude
- M 1.8 (md)
- Depth
- 9.6 km below the surface
- Felt
- no reports yet
- Nearest
- San Benito County, 27 km SE
- Nearest mapped fault
- Quien Sabe fault, 3 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 1323 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 9 km (6 mi) from the epicentre. In Hollister, 12 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: Ridgemark, San Juan Bautista.
How big was it?
This earthquake released about 15 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.8 would have released about 32 times as much.
- Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,000,000× the energy of this one
- Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 730,000× the energy of this one
- Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 65× the energy of this one
- This earthquake M 1.8 about 15 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 24,000 times the energy of this one.
Before 2016, the USGS record lists 23 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:
- 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 48 km NW of this epicentre
- 5.9 10 km SE of Tres Pinos, California · 8 km SE of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Watsonville, California · 41 km WNW of this epicentre
- 5.8 Near Paicines, California · 13 km SSE of this epicentre
- 5.8 The 1979 Coyote Lake, California Earthquake · 41 km NNW 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 36.7827, -121.2928. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Nearby places
| Place | Distance | Direction from the epicentre | |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Benito County, CA | 27 km (16 mi) | SE | earthquakes near San Benito County |
| Santa Clara County, CA | 60 km (37 mi) | NW | earthquakes near Santa Clara County |
| Monterey County, CA | 60 km (38 mi) | S | earthquakes near Monterey County |
| Merced County, CA | 68 km (42 mi) | NE | earthquakes near Merced County |
| Santa Cruz County, CA | 69 km (43 mi) | WNW | earthquakes near Santa Cruz County |
| Stanislaus County, CA | 90 km (56 mi) | NNE | earthquakes near Stanislaus County |
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.
- 3.1 4km S of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.9 16km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.7 5km SSE of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.6 9km NNE of San Juan Bautista, CA
- 1.9 9km E of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.6 8km WSW of Gilroy, CA
- 2.3 8km NW of Pinnacles, CA
- 1.9 5km N of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.0 8km ESE of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.2 10km E of Gilroy, CA
- 1.6 5km ESE of Interlaken, CA
- 1.9 24km SW of South Dos Palos, CA
- 1.6 11km SE of Pinnacles, CA
- 2.7 12km NNW of Hollister, CA
- 2.9 15km S of Tres Pinos, 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.