M1.5 earthquake 2 km ESE of Benton City, Washington
A magnitude 1.5 earthquake struck 2 km ESE of Benton City, Washington on Sat, Jul 12, 2003, 11:59 AM PDT (18:59 UTC), 2 km (1 mi) below the surface.
A larger quake followed: M2.0 17 km SW of Toppenish, Washington. This one was a foreshock.
Map
Where this earthquake was located, with the others nearby. Select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Magnitude
- 1.5 (Md, duration), micro
- Magnitude from
- Pacific Northwest Seismic Network
- Local time
- UTC
- 2003-07-12 18:59:05 UTC
- Depth
- 1.8 km (1.1 mi), shallow
- Epicenter
- 46.252° N, 119.464° W
- Region
- Washington
- Tsunami flag
- No
- Status
- Reviewed by a seismologist
Did you feel it?
No one has reported feeling this quake to the USGS.
How well it is located
Reviewed by a seismologist.
- Location uncertainty
- About 0.4 km horizontally, 0.6 km in depth
- Magnitude uncertainty
- ±0.02
- Depth from
- From location
- Station coverage gap
- 207°, poorly surrounded by stations
- Stations used
- 7
Nearest places
Distance and direction from each place to the epicenter, with its forecast.
Nearby
Within 100 km, magnitude 1.5 and up: 4 in the 60 days after this one and 2 in the 30 days before it.
After
- 2.017 km SW of Toppenish, Washington · 8483 days ago · 16 km deep · 75 km away
- 1.99 km SE of Royal City, WA · 8444 days ago · 2 km deep · 66 km away
- 1.620 km SSE of Royal City, Washington · 8439 days ago · 0 km deep · 53 km away
- 1.615 km NNE of Prosser, Washington · 8425 days ago · 5 km deep · 19 km away
Before
Earthquakes todayWashington earthquakesLive radar here
Sources
From the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program and its partner networks, event uw10596713. Read Sun, Oct 4, 2026, 9:43 AM UTC.