August 15, 1951 Earthquake: Terminal Island, California, United States

Date

August 15, 1951

Time

07:23:00 UTC

Place

Terminal Island, California, United States

Intensity

V, moderate shaking, on the Modified Mercalli scale

Tsunami

None recorded

Epicenter

33.500° N, 118.200° W

Country

United States

Region

North America and Hawaii

USGS record

The USGS’s page for this earthquake

Damage

$3 million

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.

1. #1128 Coffman, J.L. and C.A. von Hake (1973-1982). Earthquake History of the United States, Pub. 41-1, U.S. Department of Commerce, Boulder, CO, 1973, and 1982 Supplement.

• March 11, 1933, Long Beach, California, United StatesM6.3 · 120 deaths · $41 million · 25 km
• February 9, 1971, San Fernando, California, United StatesM6.5 · 65 deaths · $505 million · 103 km
• January 17, 1994, Northridge, California, United StatesM6.7 · 57 deaths · $40 billion · 40,000 houses destroyed · 85 km
• December 8, 1812, San Juan Capistrano, California, United StatesM6.9 · 40 deaths · 109 km
• July 21, 1952, Kern County, California, United StatesM7.7 · 12 deaths · $60 million · 183 km
• October 1, 1987, Whittier, California, United StatesM5.7 · 8 deaths · $358 million · 63 km
• December 25, 1899, California, United StatesM6.4 · 6 deaths · 111 km
• June 28, 1992, Landers, Yucca Valley, California, United StatesM7.6 · 3 deaths · $92 million · 181 km
• June 28, 1991, Arcadia, Glendale, Los Angeles, California, United StatesM5.1 · 2 deaths · $33.5 million · 87 km
• October 4, 1987, Whittier, Pasadena, California, United StatesM4.8 · 1 death · 64 km
• August 31, 1930, Southern, California, United StatesM5.2 · 1 death · 72 km
• April 21, 1918, San Jacinto, Hemet, California, United StatesM6.7 · 1 death · $200,000 · 117 km
• December 21, 1812, Purisima, California, United StatesM7.5 · 1 death · 175 km
• November 17, 1949, Southern, California, United States$9 million · 28 km
• January 25, 1955, Terminal Island, California, United States$3 million · 33 km

Significant earthquakes of 1951The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1951Recent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history

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 3979. The written accounts and the magnitude estimates are from the USGS earthquake catalog, event ci10086290, matched to this record by time, place and magnitude.