Los Angeles Almanac Logo
Home | All Almanac Topics | Earthquakes

Significant Earthquakes Impacting
Los Angeles County

Earthquake, Long Beach, 1933

Earthquake damage in Long Beach from the 1933 Earthquake. Contributed by the Griffin Family, courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey.


NOTE: In the event of an earthquake, the safest place to be is not in a doorway, but under a table or desk.


Also see:
-- Probability of an Earthquake in the Los Angeles Region
-- Los Angeles is Moving.


Also see: Great Fort Tejon Earthquake, 1857

Earthquake, Mission Santa Cruz Church, 1857



Magnitude 4.9 or Larger

Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1769 Jul 28 Los Angeles Area --- 6.0 VIII No information
1812 Dec 8 Los Angeles Area 3:00pm 7.0 VII 40 deaths, Mission San Juan Capistrano severely to moderately damaged. Mission San Gabriel moderately damaged.
1827 Sep 24 Los Angeles Area 4:00am 5.5 VI No information
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1855 Jul 11 Los Angeles Area 4:15am 6.0 VIII Bells of Mission San Gabriel torn down. 26 buildings damaged in L.A.
1857 Jan 9 Fort Tejon 4:24pm 7.9 IX 2 deaths; Severe property damage and loss. See Great Fort Tejon Earthquake, 1857.
1916 Oct 21 Tejon Pass Region 2:44pm 6.0 VII No information
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1933 Mar 10 Long Beach 5:54pm 6.4 VIII 120 deaths; $40 million
1920 Jun 21 Inglewood 2:47am 4.9 VIII No deaths; $100,000+
1941 Nov 14 Torrance-Gardena 12:42am 5.1 VIII No deaths; $1.1 million
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1951 Dec 26 San Clemente Island 12:46am 5.9 VI No deaths; No appreciable damage
1971 Feb 9 San Fernando 6:01am 6.6 XI 65 deaths; $505 million
1979 Jan 1 Malibu 3:15pm 5.2 VI No deaths; minor damage
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1987 Oct 1 Whittier-Narrows 7:42am 5.9 VIII 8 deaths; $358 million
1988 Dec 3 Pasadena 11:38pm 5.0 VI No deaths; No appreciable damage
1989 Jan 19 Malibu 10:38pm 5.2 VI No deaths; slight damage
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
1990 Feb 8 Upland** 4:43pm 5.8 VII No deaths; $12.7 million
1991 Jun 28 Sierra Madre 7:44am 5.8 VII 2 deaths; $40 million
1994 Jan 17 Northridge 4:31am 6.7 IX 61 deaths Est. $20 billion
Year Date Location Time Richter Measure* Mercalli Measure Deaths & Property Damage
2008 Jul 29 Chino Hills** 4:04am 5.5 VI No deaths; moderate damage
2014 Mar 28 La Habra†† 9:09pm 5.1 VI No deaths; $10.8 million
2023 Aug 20 Ojai‡‡ 2:41pm 5.1 V No deaths; No appreciable damage reported

* Richter Magnitude Scale
Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale
‡ Kern County
** San Bernardino County
†† Orange County
‡‡ Ventura County


The magnitude 7.9 Fort Tejon earthquake (1857) shook 631 times more intensely than did either of the magnitude 5.1 earthquakes in La Habra (2014) and Ojai (2023). The Tejon quake also released 15,849 times the energy than did either of the two smaller quakes.


Earthquake Damage in Northridge, 1994
Probability of a Major Earthquake in the Los Angeles Region


About 30 earthquakes occur every day in Southern California. Most have a magnitude of less than 2.0 and are almost never felt.


No evidence exists that earthquakes are more likely to occur in certain kinds of weather. Statistically, earthquakes may occur in any kind of weather.


The best place to see any part of the monstrous, 800-mile San Andreas Fault is in Palmdale in a road cut along the Antelope Valley Freeway (Route 14) just north of Avenue S. The last time this part of the fault was active was in 1857.


Also see the Southern California Earthquake Center.