July 28, 1902 Earthquake: Southern, California, United States
An earthquake struck Southern, California, United States on July 28, 1902 at 06:57:00 UTC.
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 28, 1902
- Time
- 06:57:00 UTC
- Place
- Southern, California, United States
- Intensity
- 8 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 34.500° N, 120.500° W
- Country
- United States
The toll
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
- Houses destroyed
- 1
- Houses damaged
- Many (101 to 1,000)
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 the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
1902. July 27 and July 31. Santa Barbara County. Shocks occurred on intervening and following days at Los Alamos, Lompoc, and neighboring places, chiefly in Santa Barbara County. One adobe house was completely ruined, two oil tanks were destroyed (with a loss of 6,000 barrels of oil), store buildings were damaged, and a pipeline twisted and broke. The shocks on the 31st “completed the ruin started on July 27.” In Los Alamos, no chimney was left standing, and no house escaped damage. Great and general public alarm. Fissures and cracks appeared in the ground. A dry stream resumed flow. Effects were most pronounced in a strip about 15 miles long and 4 miles wide. (reference #1128)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- February 9, 1971, San Fernando, California, United States
- January 17, 1994, Northridge, California, United States
- June 29, 1925, Santa Barbara, California, United States
- July 21, 1952, Kern County, California, United States
- January 9, 1857, San Luis Obispo, California, United States
- December 22, 2003, Paso Robles,templeton,atascadero, California, United States
- August 22, 1952, Kern County, California, United States
- December 21, 1812, Purisima, California, United States
- August 31, 1930, Southern, California, United States
- November 4, 1927, Off Coast, S, California, United States
- August 13, 1978, Southern, California, United States
- March 25, 1806, Santa Barbara, California, United States
- May 31, 1854, Southern, California, United States
- February 1, 1853, San Simeon, California, United States
- February 21, 1973, Oxnard, California, United States
More
Significant earthquakes of 1902The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1902Recent 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 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 2619.