The April 18, 1906 earthquake
M7.9San Francisco, California
A magnitude 7.9 earthquake 7.3 miles deep, 2.9 miles off San Francisco County. The strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles in the catalogue, which runs from 1900.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 7.9
- moment magnitude (mw)
- Depth
- 7.3 mi
- 11.7 km below the surface
- Local time
- Wednesday, April 18, 1906
- 05:12 PST; 13:12 UTC
- In California’s record
- 1st
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event official19060418131226300_12 (“The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.
Counties and cities within 50 miles
Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.
Counties
- San Francisco CountyCA · 2.9 mi
- San Mateo CountyCA · 3.9 mi
- Marin CountyCA · 4.8 mi
- Alameda CountyCA · 12.0 mi
- Contra Costa CountyCA · 14.0 mi
- Sonoma CountyCA · 25.1 mi
- Solano CountyCA · 26.3 mi
- Napa CountyCA · 29.1 mi
- Santa Clara CountyCA · 29.6 mi
- Santa Cruz CountyCA · 38.8 mi
- Sacramento CountyCA · 43.4 mi
Cities, largest first
- San FranciscoCA · 26.4 mi
- OaklandCA · 17.8 mi
- FremontCA · 37.7 mi
- Santa RosaCA · 48.8 mi
- HaywardCA · 25.8 mi
- SunnyvaleCA · 38.2 mi
- Santa ClaraCA · 41.5 mi
- VallejoCA · 29.2 mi
- ConcordCA · 33.6 mi
- FairfieldCA · 45.2 mi
- BerkeleyCA · 15.9 mi
- AntiochCA · 44.0 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
658 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
No earlier earthquake of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles in the catalogue since 1900.
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.