July 11, 1855 Earthquake: Los Angeles, California, United States
A magnitude 6 earthquake struck Los Angeles, California, United States on July 11, 1855 at 04:15 UTC. It caused a tsunami.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- July 11, 1855
- Time
- 04:15 UTC
- Place
- Los Angeles, California, United States
- Magnitude
- 6 (ML)
- Intensity
- VIII, severe shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- Yes: the tsunami it caused
- Epicenter
- 34.100° N, 118.100° W
- Country
- United States
- Region
- North America and Hawaii
- USGS record
- The USGS’s page for this earthquake
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 1
- Houses damaged
- 26
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What happened
The USGS’s account of the effects of this earthquake.
Bells at the Mission San Gabriel church were thrown down. Twenty-six buildings were damaged in Los Angeles, including the Star Hotel, whose walls were cracked. An adobe building sitting directly on the Raymond fault also was wrecked. Two unusually "heavy" sea waves rolled in at Point San Juan soon after the last of four shocks. (Ref. 38, 56, 368.)
Maximum observed Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) VIII
Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.
In addition, this quake was felt at Santa Barbara and at a sawmill east of San Bernardino.
Abridged from Preparation of isoseismal maps and summaries of reported effects for pre-1900 California earthquakes, by T.R. Toppozada, C.R. Real and D.L. Parke, California Division of Mines and Geology Open-File Report 81-11 SAC, Sacramento: 1981; updated and presented by interactive map on California Geological Survey website.
From the USGS event page for ushis87. U.S. Geological Survey text and figures are in the public domain.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1855. July 11 (July 10). Near San Gabriel,
Los Angeles County, Calif. Bells at the San Gabriel
Mission church were thrown down. Twenty-six
buildings were damaged in Los Angeles, including
the Star Hotel, whose walls were cracked. An adobe
building sitting directly on the Raymond fault also
was wrecked. Two unusually "heavy" sea waves
rolled in at Point San Juan soon after the last of four
shocks. (reference #542)
The following is from reference #415:
1855, July 10, about 20:00 local time. At Los Angeles, there was a strong earthquake which caused substantial damage. Cracks 2-5 cm wide formed in the ground at many places and remained for several days. Twenty-six buildings were damaged in the city, including the church. It was mainly walls, made of unpolished stone, which were destroyed. The bells were cast down from the bell tower at San Gabriel. The earthquake was felt 15 km east of San Bernadino and at Santa Barbara.
At San Juan Capistrano, immediately after the earthquake, movement of the water accompanied by a dull loud rumble was noted. Two unusually large waves surged on shore.
Sources NCEI cites
The publications NCEI lists for this record. The numbers match the “reference #” notes in its account above.
- #2541 Trask, John B. (1864). Earthquakes in California from 1800 to 1864. Proceedings of the California Academy of Natural Science, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 130-153.
- #542 Stover, Carl W., and Jerry L. Coffman (1993). Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 418 p.
- #1074 Wood, Harry O., Maxwell W. Allen, and N.H. Heck (1934). Destructive and Near-Destructive Earthquakes in California and Western Nevada, 1769-1933, U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Special Publication no. 191, 24 p.
- #415 Soloviev, S.L., and Ch.N. Go (1975). A catalogue of tsunamis on the eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean [dates include 1513-1968]. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Nauka Publishing House, Moscow, 204 p. [Canadian Translation of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences no. 5078, 1984, translation available from Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A OS2, 293 p.]
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- March 11, 1933, Long Beach, California, United States
- February 9, 1971, San Fernando, California, United States
- January 17, 1994, Northridge, California, United States
- December 8, 1812, San Juan Capistrano, California, United States
- June 29, 1925, Santa Barbara, California, United States
- July 21, 1952, Kern County, California, United States
- October 1, 1987, Whittier, California, United States
- December 25, 1899, California, United States
- June 28, 1992, Landers, Yucca Valley, California, United States
- June 28, 1991, Arcadia, Glendale, Los Angeles, California, United States
- August 22, 1952, Kern County, California, United States
- October 4, 1987, Whittier, Pasadena, California, United States
- August 31, 1930, Southern, California, United States
- April 21, 1918, San Jacinto, Hemet, California, United States
- December 21, 1812, Purisima, California, United States
More
Significant earthquakes of 1855The 1800sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-10-01. NCEI earthquake 1984. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event ushis87, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.