QuakeIndex

Earthquake · automatic estimate, may change

M 1.1md

Earthquake near Cupertino, CA

USGS: 5 km WSW of Cupertino, CA

24 km (15 mi) W of San Jose, CA · in Cupertino, CA

7:10 am PDT, Oct 1, 2026 · · 5.1 km deep · released about 1.2 lb of TNT

10 km30 km60 km120 km N San Mateo County 28 kmSanta Cruz County 34 kmSanta Clara County 36 kmAlameda County 41 kmContra Costa County 69 kmSan Francisco County 96 kmStanislaus County 100 kmSan Joaquin County 100 kmMarin County 101 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
7:10 am PDT on 1 October 2026 ()
Where
5 km (3 mi) WSW of Cupertino, CA · earthquakes near Cupertino
Magnitude
M 1.1 (md)
Depth
5.1 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
San Mateo County, 28 km WNW
Nearest mapped fault
Monte Vista-Shannon fault, 1 km from its surface trace — near is not the same as on
Status
Automatic — a machine’s first estimate, which may change

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 35 hours ago

A magnitude 1.1 earthquake was recorded 5 km (3 mi) WSW of Cupertino, CA, at 7:10 am PDT on 1 October 2026 (14:10 UTC). This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

Earthquakes near other towns within 30 km: Loyola, Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 1.2 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.1 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 13,000,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 9,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 810× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.1 about 1.2 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 5.1 on 2022-10-25 — about 1,000,000 times the energy of this one.

Before 2016, the USGS record lists 19 earthquakes of M5 or more within 50 km; the five largest:

  1. 6.9 The 1989 Loma Prieta, California Earthquake · 35 km SSE of this epicentre
  2. 6.5 Near Morgan Hill, California · 45 km ESE of this epicentre
  3. 6.3 16 km SW of Davenport, California · 49 km SSW of this epicentre
  4. 6.2 Near San Jose, California · 25 km E of this epicentre
  5. 6.2 The 1984 Morgan Hill, California Earthquake · 36 km E 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 37.3090, -122.0838. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection from the epicentre
San Mateo County, CA 28 km (17 mi) WNW earthquakes near San Mateo County
Santa Cruz County, CA 34 km (21 mi) SSE earthquakes near Santa Cruz County
Santa Clara County, CA 36 km (23 mi) ESE earthquakes near Santa Clara County
Alameda County, CA 41 km (25 mi) NNE earthquakes near Alameda County
Contra Costa County, CA 69 km (43 mi) N earthquakes near Contra Costa County
San Francisco County, CA 96 km (59 mi) WNW earthquakes near San Francisco County

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

Aftershocks so far

1 earthquake has been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.0 4 km WSW of Cupertino, 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

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.