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The May 26, 1962 earthquake

M5.1near Progreso, B.C., MX, California

A magnitude 5.1 earthquake 3.7 miles deep, 31.7 miles off San Diego County. The 382nd strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.4 on November 30, 1958. 1 aftershock of magnitude 2.5 or more followed within 30 days.

The earthquake

Magnitude
5.1
magnitude (unspecified scale) (mh)
Depth
3.7 mi
6.0 km below the surface
Local time
Saturday, May 26, 1962
18:45 PDT; 01:45 UTC on May 27, 1962
Epicentre
32.26°N, 115.77°W
31.7 mi from San Diego County
In California’s record
382nd
strongest of 97,065 since 1900
Within 50 miles
2
counties; more on this date

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event ci10086670 (“40km SSW of Progreso, B.C., MX”). The USGS event page carries the ShakeMap, felt reports and the official summary.

Aftershocks

Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more within 20 miles of the epicentre in the 30 days after.

1

Aftershocks in 30 days

3.4

Largest aftershock, Jun 21, 1962

0

On the first day

0

In the 7 days before

Aftershocks of magnitude 2.5 or more, by day after the earthquake 1: 0 2: 0 3: 0 4: 0 5: 0 6: 0 7: 0 8: 0 9: 0 10: 0 11: 0 12: 0 13: 0 14: 0 15: 0 16: 0 17: 0 18: 0 19: 0 20: 0 21: 0 22: 0 23: 0 24: 0 25: 0 26: 1 1 27: 0 28: 0 29: 0 30: 0 1611162126
  1. The search radius is the surface rupture length expected for an earthquake of this magnitude (Wells and Coppersmith, 1994), at least 20 and at most 600 miles, so a great earthquake's sequence is counted along its whole fault.
  2. Before the modern seismic networks of the 1970s many small aftershocks went unrecorded, so early sequences read short.

Counties and cities within 50 miles

Distance from the epicentre to each county boundary (zero when inside) and to each city centre.

Counties

Cities, largest first

Earthquakes around the epicentre

3,502 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.

Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of the epicentre, by year 1973: 21 1974: 27 1975: 50 1976: 78 1977: 53 1978: 46 1979: 182 1980: 54 1981: 9 1982: 14 1983: 20 1984: 44 1985: 21 1986: 41 1987: 86 1988: 70 1989: 55 1990: 21 1991: 31 1992: 18 1993: 54 1994: 15 1995: 12 1996: 9 1997: 29 1998: 26 1999: 46 2000: 51 2001: 23 2002: 88 2003: 22 2004: 29 2005: 33 2006: 80 2007: 35 2008: 118 2009: 87 2010: 1,325 1,325 2011: 101 2012: 66 2013: 43 2014: 18 2015: 20 2016: 19 2017: 16 2018: 16 2019: 16 2020: 20 2021: 29 2022: 16 2023: 26 2024: 59 2025: 14 19731978198319881993199820032008201320182023

Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first

USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.