The February 7, 1969 earthquake
M5.3near Scotia, California
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake 15.4 miles deep, centred in Humboldt County. The 267th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.9 on June 25, 1968.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3
- moment magnitude (mw)
- Depth
- 15.4 mi
- 24.8 km below the surface
- Local time
- Friday, February 7, 1969
- 13:25 PST; 21:25 UTC
- In California’s record
- 267th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgem811964 (“18 km SSW of Scotia, California”). 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
- Humboldt CountyCA · inside
- Mendocino CountyCA · 23.7 mi
- Trinity CountyCA · 41.0 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
2,209 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more within 50 miles of this epicentre since 1973.
Earlier earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more within 50 miles, strongest first
- January 22, 1923M7.1
- October 3, 1941M6.5
- June 6, 1932M6.5
- April 23, 1906M6.4
- December 21, 1954M6.4
- October 7, 1951M6.0
- September 22, 1952M6.0
- March 18, 1910M6.0
- October 28, 1909M6.0
- June 5, 1960M6.0
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.