Significant earthquakes of 1994

January 17, 1994 Earthquake: Northridge, California, United States

January 17, 1994 · M6.7 · 57 deaths · $40 billion · 40,000 houses destroyed

A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Northridge, California, United States on January 17, 1994 at 12:30:55 UTC, 18 km below the surface. It killed 57 people.

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
January 17, 1994
Time
12:30:55 UTC
Place
Northridge, California, United States
Magnitude
6.7 (Mw)
Focal depth
18 km (11 mi)
Intensity
9 on the Modified Mercalli scale
Epicenter
34.213° N, 118.537° W

The toll

Deaths
57
Injuries
11,846
Damage
$40 billion
Houses destroyed
40,000

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.

Fatalities, injuries, and damage in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange and San Bernardino Counties. Maximum intensities of (IX) observed in and near Northridge and in Sherman Oaks. Significant damage occurred at Fillmore, Glendale, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Simi Valley and in western and central Los Angeles. Collapsed overpasses closed sections of the Santa Monica, Antelope Valley, Simi Valley and Golden State Freeways. The maximum recorded acceleration exceeded 1.0g at several sites in the area. A maximum uplift of about 15 cm occurred in the Santa Susana Mountains and many rockslides occurred in mountain areas. Some ground cracks were observed at Granada Hills and in Potrero Canyon. Some liquefaction occurred at Simi Valley and in other parts of the Los Angeles Basin.

There were two events about 2.3 seconds apart.

The Northridge Earthquake caused over $40 billion of disaster losses, 57 deaths, and 11,846 injuries. (reference #13955)

Ref. #1053 (USGS PDE) lists damage between $13 and $20 billion; Ref. #1250 (EM-DAT) lists damage $26 billion; Ref. #1289 (Calif Geo Survey) lists damage $40 billion.

Photos

From the NCEI/WDS Natural Hazards Image Database (doi:10.7289/V5154F01). Only photos by the USGS and NOAA, which are public domain, are shown.

Damage in Sylmar Mobile Home Park
Damage in Sylmar Mobile Home Park In the northern part of the San Fernando Valley, 97 mobile homes shifted off foundations at the Sylmar Oak Ridge Mobile Home Park. Some of the gas lines were broken and the escaped gas ignited. Forty-five trailers were destroyed by fire. As many as 100 trailers in three San Fernando Valley mobile home parks were destroyed by fire; one person died. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage in historical area of Fillmore
Damage in historical area of Fillmore Outside the Los Angeles area, the towns of Santa Monica and Fillmore were greatly affected. Fillmore had a very nice historic district with a lot of unreinforced masonry buildings. This district suffered an estimated $250 million in damage. There were a number of houses that slid off foundations. Shown here is an unreinforced masonry building with a… Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to unreinforced masonry building in Fillmore
Damage to unreinforced masonry building in Fillmore Damaged hotel and theater building. The unreinforced masonry building was constructed near the turn of the 20th Century. One government entity (concerned with safety) issued an order that all these old buildings be razed since it would take so much money to restore them. However, the Commission on Historic Preservation wanted them restored. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to Kaiser Clinic in Granada Hills
Damage to Kaiser Clinic in Granada Hills The Kaiser Permanente Clinic at Granada Hills on Balboa Blvd. The building was of older, non-ductile, reinforced concrete-frame construction. End walls collapsed and separated from the main unit over the full height of the building. Photo: M. Celebi, U.S. Geological Survey.
Second View of damage to Kaiser Clinic
Second View of damage to Kaiser Clinic Collapse of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Building in Granada Hills. Failure occurred at the connections of the concrete frame structure. Note the crack where second story has collapsed. The building was empty at the time. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Total collapse of end wall in Reseda
Total collapse of end wall in Reseda Building at Sherman Way and Lindley Ave. in Reseda. An exterior wall fell off exposing offices and equipment. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Collapse of apartment building over garage in Reseda
Collapse of apartment building over garage in Reseda This apartment building in Reseda collapsed over the garage. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Second view of same building
Second view of same building Collapsed apartment in Reseda. The building's soft story has collapsed onto cars. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to cast-in-place garage in Van Nuys
Damage to cast-in-place garage in Van Nuys This tilt-up building in Chatsworth was typical of many in the area that sustained extensive damage. Tilt-ups built prior to the building code changes that followed the 1971 San Fernando earthquake incurred the most damage. If these older buildings had been retrofitted, their performance would have improved considerably. Tilt-ups built after the building… Photo: M. Celebi, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damaged apartment in Sherman Oaks
Damaged apartment in Sherman Oaks A view of a damaged apartment in Sherman Oaks. There was also some damage to large engineered structures in this area. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.
Damage to tilt-up building in Chatsworth
Damage to tilt-up building in Chatsworth Cast-in-place reinforced concrete garage building off Ventura Boulevard at the intersection of I-405. Several columns were damaged. Photo: M. Celebi, U.S. Geological Survey.
Chimney damage in Santa Monica
Chimney damage in Santa Monica Chimney damage in a residential area in the Santa Monica mountains. Pockets of similar damage each extending for one or two blocks could be found in the midst of larger areas that did not experience damage. In mountainous regions such pockets of damage are often located on ridge tops suggesting topographic amplification of the seismic waves. Photo: J. Dewey, U.S. Geological Survey.

Other significant earthquakes nearby

Within 200 km, the deadliest first.

More

Significant earthquakes of 1994The 1900sEvery quake the USGS located in 1994Recent 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 5372.