M 6.2 in United States on 20 Dec 2021 20:10 UTC

Event summary

This earthquake can have a low humanitarian impact based on the magnitude and the affected population and their vulnerability.

GDACS ID EQ 1302639
Earthquake Magnitude: 6.2M
Depth: 15.15 Km
Lat/Lon: 40.3068333 , -124.749
Event Date: 20 Dec 2021 20:10 UTC
20 Dec 2021 12:10 Local
Exposed Population: About 6000 people in MMI
7 thousand (in MMI>=VII)
Inserted at: 20 Dec 2021 22:30 UTC
INFORM Coping capacity:
2.2 (United States)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
  Earthquake
(Shakemap)		 Tsunami GDACS score
NCAL SS 0.5 0 0.5
nc73666231 Scaled population (raster) 2.71 Max wave alert 0m  
  C1 shakemap -0.59 Max wave realtime 0m  
  C2 shakemap 0.53      
  Country Vulnerability 0      
  INFORM_normalised 0.65      
Maximum expected impact using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
USA - Earthquake (ECHO 21 Dec 2021)Tue, 21 Dec 2021 12:01

  • An earthquake of 6.2 M at a depth of 15 km occurred approximately 31 km west of the northwestern coast of California State on 20 December at 20.10 UTC (12.10 local time). The epicentre was approximately 39 km west of Petrolia Town (Humboldt County, California State).
  • At least 40 aftershocks with a magnitude up to 4.5 M were recorded in the area. Up to 2,000 people were exposed to very strong shaking and up to 23,000 to strong shaking.
  • According to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, there are no reports of damage or casualties
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

Updates on volcanic activity (Smithsonian)

Latest media headlines

Magnetic Tides – The Poetry of Science 12/24/2021 7:21:00 PM.

Debris of every kind is spread across a beach following the 2009 Samoa tsunami (Image Credit: Casey Deshong). This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that the magnetic field generated by a tsunami can be detected before ch
...(more)
Laos: un séisme de magnitude 5,7 frappe le nord du pays 12/24/2021 6:10:00 PM.

- Selon l’Institut d'études géologiques des États-Unis (US Geological Survey) Ankara. AA / Ankara. Un séisme de magnitude 5,7 sur l'échelle de Richter a secoué, ce vendredi, le nord du Laos. Selon l’Institut d'études géologiques des État
...(more)
An app gave crucial seconds of warning before a major California earth.. 12/24/2021 5:57:00 PM.

An early-alert system designed to give people crucial seconds of warning before earthquakes lived up to its promise on Monday. It buzzed through a half a million phones ahead of a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that hit northwest California — the
...(more)
An app gave crucial seconds of warning before a major California earth.. 12/24/2021 5:06:00 PM.

It’s the largest quake since the rollout of ShakeAlert. Photo by Yichuan Cao/NurPhoto via Getty Images. An early-alert system designed to give people crucial seconds of warning before earthquakes lived up to its promise on Monday. It
...(more)

View more news

Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (90), NEIC (3), OCHA (1), WMO (2), USGS (5), (3), INFORM (4),