Facts about California Earthquakes

• The first strong recorded earthquake occurred in the Los Angeles region in 1769 with four violent shocks about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles
• An earthquake on May 25, 1803, damaged the San Diego Mission church.
• A strong earthquake destroyed a church and killed forty persons attending services at San Juan Capistrano on December 8, 1812.
• A violent earthquake near Fort Tejon in January 1857 downed buildings and large trees. This earthquake has been compared to that of the 1906 earthquake.
• Thirty people were killed in the region of Hayward and San Leandro due to a strong earthquake that occurred on the Hayward fault in October 1868. Until the 1906 earthquake, this earthquake was called "the great earthquake."
• In March 1872, an earthquake in the Sierra-Nevada Fault system killed 27 people at Lone Pine and destroyed 52 to 59 adobe homes.
• Nearly all brick structures were wrecked and many frame buildings were damaged in Vacaville by an earthquake on April 19, 1892.
• On Christmas Day of 1899, six persons died and several were injured in Saboda, near San Jacinto, by a strong earthquake.
• Seven hundred persons died on April 18, 1906, in one of the greatest earthquakes ever to hit California. Damage was extensive in San Francisco and was increased perhaps tenfold by raging fires. Total damage was estimated at over $500 million.
• Two destructive earthquakes nearly one hour apart caused about $1 million property damage in southern Imperial Valley on June 22, 1915. Six people were killed and several injured by the second earthquake at Mexicali, located just inside the Mexican border.
• Santa Barbara suffered $8 million damage and 13 fatalities from an offshore shock in June 1925.
• The earthquake of November 1927 wrecked chimneys at Lompoc, shifted a house on its foundation, and caused heavy earth and rockslides on steep slopes.
• The Long Beach earthquake of March 1933 resulted in $40 million in damages and 115 lives lost.
• The May 1940 Imperial Valley earthquake killed nine people. At Imperial, 80 percent of the building were damaged and about 50 percent had been condemned. This earthquake was the first strong test of public schools designed to be earthquake-resistive after the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Fifteen such public schools in the area had no apparent damage.
• The towns of Tehacapi and Arvin were hit severely by the July 1952 Kern County earthquake. Twelve people died, many were injured, and $60 million property damage was sustained.
• On October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake ended decades of tranquility in the San Francisco Bay region. Minutes before the scheduled start of the third game of the 1989 World Series in San Francisco, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake rocked the California coast from Monterey to San Francisco. Centered near Loma Prieta peak in the mountains south of San Jose, the quake killed 63 people and caused an estimated $6 billion to $10 billion in property loss. It was the first large temblor to jolt the burgeoning urban region since the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 (magnitude 7.8).
• The Northridge earthquake of January 17, 1994, displaced more than 20,000 people from their homes in a modern urban environment generally designed for seismic resistance. There were 57 deaths and economic losses were estimated at $20 billion.

Listed below are the major earthquakes that occurred in California, Nevada and Baja, California from 1769 to present. The list includes all known earthquakes with a magnitude of at least 6 and selected smaller events.

Source: United States Geological Survey
Recent earthquakes map: United States Geological Survey
Table adapted from California Department of Insurance