The October 1, 1969 earthquake
M5.3Northern California
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake 9.3 miles deep, centred in Sonoma County. The 269th strongest in California’s record since 1900, and the strongest within 50 miles since a magnitude 5.3 on March 22, 1957.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 5.3
- moment magnitude (mw)
- Depth
- 9.3 mi
- 15.0 km below the surface
- Local time
- Wednesday, October 1, 1969
- 23:19 PDT; 06:19 UTC on Oct 2, 1969
- In California’s record
- 269th
- strongest of 97,065 since 1900
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog, event iscgemsup803006 (“Northern 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
- Sonoma CountyCA · inside
- Marin CountyCA · 4.5 mi
- Napa CountyCA · 19.1 mi
- Solano CountyCA · 25.6 mi
- Lake CountyCA · 26.5 mi
- Contra Costa CountyCA · 32.7 mi
- Mendocino CountyCA · 36.6 mi
- San Francisco CountyCA · 38.6 mi
- Alameda CountyCA · 40.2 mi
- Yolo CountyCA · 41.2 mi
- San Mateo CountyCA · 45.9 mi
- Colusa CountyCA · 49.2 mi
Cities, largest first
- San FranciscoCA · 42.5 mi
- Santa RosaCA · 10.8 mi
- VallejoCA · 34.0 mi
- FairfieldCA · 43.2 mi
- BerkeleyCA · 42.6 mi
- RichmondCA · 35.9 mi
- VacavilleCA · 46.5 mi
- Daly CityCA · 47.1 mi
- NapaCA · 28.5 mi
- PetalumaCA · 12.0 mi
- San RafaelCA · 29.2 mi
- NovatoCA · 22.2 mi
Earthquakes around the epicentre
1,222 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
- April 18, 1906M7.9
- March 22, 1957M5.3
- October 1, 1969M5.3
USGS ANSS Comprehensive Earthquake Catalog. Local time is the time zone of the county nearest the epicentre. Magnitudes are as the catalogue reports them.