1933 Long Beach earthquake

Severe earthquake in Los Angeles County, California May 2025 February 2025 1933 Long Beach earthquake 1933-03-11 01:54:00 905457 ci3359741 1933 Long Beach earthquake damage 1.jpg Damage to the John Muir School, Pacific Avenue, Long Beach USA California California 33.63 -118.00 Bullseye1.png 40 California 34.05 -118.25 Los Angeles 100 left Green pog.svg 1 290 right March 10, 1933 5:54 P.M. PST 6.4 w y 10 km mi on 33.631 -118.000 region:US_type:event inline,title Strike-slip South Coast (California) United States $40 million VIII 0.22 ghttps://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/earthquakes/long-beach The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake No 20 cm/s (est)Nature:The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake (California, USA) Ground Motions and Rupture Scenario Scientific Reports 22 June 2020 10 1 10017 10.1038/s41598-020-66299-w free Hough S. E. Graves R. W. 32572047 7308333 2020NatSR..1010017H M5.4 on Oct 2 1933Nature:The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake (California, USA) Ground Motions and Rupture Scenario Scientific Reports 22 June 2020 10 1 10017 10.1038/s41598-020-66299-w free Hough S. E. Graves R. W. 32572047 7308333 2020NatSR..1010017H 115–120 killed Newport-Inglewood FaultSouthern California Earthquake Data Center: Long Beach Earthquake https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/longbeach1933.html 2021-10-26 Southern California Earthquake Data Center The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at 5:54 P.M. PST March 11, 01:54 UTC south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault.Southern California Earthquake Data Center: Long Beach Earthquake https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/longbeach1933.html 2021-05-01 Southern California Earthquake Data Center The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 w y, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Damage to buildings was widespread throughout Southern California. It resulted in 115 to 120 fatalities and an estimated $40 million worth of property damage, equivalent to $US 40 1933 million in US. The majority of the fatalities resulted from people running out of buildings, exposing themselves to the falling debris. Tectonic setting The Newport–Inglewood Fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault trending northwest–southeast, and parallel to other major right-lateral faults in California. The fault spans about 46 miles through the Los Angeles Basin, onshore from Culver City to Newport Beach, where it extends east-southeast into the Pacific Ocean and becomes the Rose Canyon Fault.Southern California Earthquake Data Center at Caltech https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/newport.html 2025-09-07 scedc.caltech.edu The fault can be identified on the surface by a chain of low hills extending from Culver City to Signal Hill. The fault has a slip rate of approximately 0.6 mm (0.024 in)/year and is predicted to be capable of a 6.0–7.4 magnitude earthquake. The Newport–Inglewood Fault is part of the larger system of right-lateral strike-slip faults, most prominently the San Andreas Fault, which comprises the transform zone that separates the North American tectonic plate from the Pacific plate. Earthquake The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at 5:54 P.M. PST with an estimated magnitude of 6.4 Mw, and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). The epicenter of the quake was offshore, 3 miles south of Huntington Beach.Southern California Earthquake Data Center at Caltech https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/longbeach1933.html 2025-09-07 scedc.caltech.edu The earthquake ruptured 15 miles towards the north, although it did not rupture at the surface.2020-06-22 M6.4 March 10, 1933 Long Beach, California Earthquake U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/science/m64-march-10-1933-long-beach-california-earthquake 2025-09-07 www.usgs.gov en The shaking was especially strong in the cities of Long Beach and Compton. Damage Major damage occurred in the densely populated city of Long Beach on the south-facing coast of Los Angeles County. However, the damage was also found in the industrial area south of downtown Los Angeles. An estimated 75,000 mi2 area was impacted, and the earthquake was felt as far away as San Joaquin Valley, Owens Valley, and Northern Baja California. A significant amount of damage occurred due to unfavorable geological conditions (landfill, water-soaked alluvium) combined with poorly constructed buildings. In Long Beach, buildings collapsed, water tanks fell through roofs, and houses were tossed off their foundations. School buildings were among the structures that incurred the most severe damage.https://web.archive.org/web/20000817021801/http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/states/california/california_history.html 2000-08-17 https://neic.usgs.gov/neis/states/california/california_history.html Earthquake History of California 2018-05-02 live Within seconds, 120 schools within the Long Beach area were damaged, 70 of which were destroyed. It was recognized that unreinforced masonry bearing walls were the reason that school buildings suffered so much damage.1988 Building Codes: Evaluating Buildings in Seismic Zones APT Bulletin 20 2 13–17 1494245 Green Melvyn Watson Anne L. 10.2307/1494245 On March 20, 2008, a Los Angeles Times article stated that "the 1933 quake changed the landscape, leading to improved school construction standards and a heightened awareness of earthquake risks."2019-03-08 From the Archives: The 1933 Long Beach earthquake https://www.latimes.com/visuals/photography/la-me-fw-archives-the-1933-long-beach-earthquake-20190205-htmlstory.html 2021-11-17 Los Angeles Times Among other buildings, the La Grande Station, the main Los Angeles terminal of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, was heavily damaged.Southern California Institute of Architecture http://www.sciarc.edu/v5/about/freightyard.php On the History of the Santa Fe Freight Depot, Los Angeles 2004 2006-05-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20060427000402/http://www.sciarc.edu/v5/about/freightyard.php 2006-04-27 dead Aftermath The earthquake highlighted the need for earthquake-resistant design for structures in California. More than 230 school buildings either were destroyed, suffered major damage, or were judged unsafe to occupy. Casualties would have been much higher had the earthquake occurred a few hours earlier while school was in session. Many schools were permanently closed for a long time due to the building being unsafe for inhabitation or not meeting earthquake safety regulations at the time. Since these schools were deemed unsafe, students would report to classes held in tents. Large sums of money were needed to upgrade these damaged school buildings.J. Edmund Eaton 1933 Long Beach, California, Earthquake of March 10, 1933: Geological Notes http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/3d932b6c-16b1-11d7-8645000102c1865d AAPG Bulletin 17 6 732–738 10.1306/3d932b6c-16b1-11d7-8645000102c1865d 1933BAAPG..17..732E 0149-1423 subscription Only 30 days after the earthquake, Governor James Rolph Jr. signed the Field Act to govern the planning, design and construction of public school buildings.Alquist A. E. Al Alquist February 2007 The Field Act and Public School Construction: A 2007 Perspective https://ssc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2020/08/cssc_2007-03_field_act_report.pdf live 3 November 2010 27 January 2011 California Seismic Safety Commission The Field Act mandated that building designs be based on high-level building standards adopted by the state and enforced by independent plan review and inspection. The plans and specifications must be prepared by competent designers qualified through state registration.The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake https://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/earthquakes/long-beach 2021-10-13 conservation.ca.gov A group of local scientists, architects, and builders formed a Joint Technical Committee on Earthquake Protection to propose ways to minimize loss of life and property in future earthquakes. The committee was chaired by Caltech physicist Robert Millikan, and included architects John C. Austin and Sumner Hunt. In June 1933 they released their report, which advocated for stronger building codes. The Bureau of Public Roads also took action to rebuild roads, highways, and bridges.Batten Donna "Natural Disasters." Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX2760300189 Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law 2 915–918 2013 https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043429/http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CCX2760300189 Gale 2019-03-04 2019-03-06 live The economy of Long Beach was able to return to normal swiftly because of the rise of the aircraft industry. To support the World War II efforts, Long Beach created naval yards and increased the number of aircraft produced. This directly helped Long Beach repair and stabilize the economy after the disaster.Johnson Daniel J Long Beach. Dictionary of American History 5 http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3401802428/GVRL 148, 149 2003 Charles Scribner's Sons 3rd This earthquake prompted the federal government to play an active role in disaster relief. The government created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, providing loans for reconstructing buildings that were affected during the natural disaster. The damage to the La Grande Station indirectly led to the construction of Los Angeles Union Station, which was built on top of what was at that time the Chinatown, Los Angeles.Chang Irene 1990-11-14 Metro Rail Excavation Casts New Light on 'Old Chinatown' https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-14-me-4046-story.html live 2021-12-18 Los Angeles Times 2020-08-25 Cause United States Geological Survey map of the greater Los Angeles area, indicating instrumentally determined epicenter of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake (red star), locations of recording instruments (red triangles) that recorded the mainshock, and estimated fault break (thick gray line). The closest instrument, in Long Beach, went off-scale, but the shaking was recorded on-scale by the other two instruments.|thumb|220x220px A 2016 press release by the United States Geological Survey indicates that research shows the 1933 Long Beach earthquake may have been man-made, caused by oil and gas extraction underneath the city.Davis Donyelle Some Early 20th Century Earthquakes in Los Angeles Area Might Have Been Man-Made https://www.usgs.gov/news/some-early-20th-century-earthquakes-los-angeles-area-might-have-been-man-made 2016 Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Further studies indicate that several, if not most earthquakes during the peak years of Los Angeles's oil boom were likely caused by tectonic stress induced by methods used at the time which did not replace the millions of barrels of removed oil with other liquids.Hough Susan Revisiting Earthquakes in the Los Angeles, California, Basin During the Early Instrumental Period: Evidence for an Association With Oil Production 2018 Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 123 12 10,684-10,705 10.1029/2017JB014616 2018JGRB..12310684H 133679728 freeLester Liza Oil extraction likely triggered mid-century earthquakes in Los Angeles https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2018/11/19/oil-extraction-likely-triggered-mid-century-earthquakes-in-la/ 2018 American Geophysical Union blog A study done by the USGS suggests that drilling in a Huntington Beach area caused the 1933 earthquake. Other studies done by the USGS have also indicated that oil drilling may have been responsible for earthquakes in the surrounding areas in the 1920s. A study published in 2016 by two scientists who reviewed early state oil drilling records found that the epicenters of these earthquakes were located near areas where an oil well that wasn't producing much petroleum was drilled much deeper.Barragan Bianca 2016-10-31 Study: Oil drilling may have caused devastating 1933 Long Beach earthquake https://la.curbed.com/2016/10/31/13479386/oil-drilling-1933-long-beach-earthquake dead November 1, 2016 2021-11-17 Curbed LA Man-made earthquakes are still an issue, especially in Oklahoma and Texas. Recent studies have shown that the injection of wastewater into the ground increases the occurrence of earthquakes.2016-10-31 Study: Drilling may have caused deadly 1933 Long Beach quake https://www.ocregister.com/articles/oil-733836-quakes-caused.html 2021-11-17 Orange County Register Within the Los Angeles depositional basin, northwest-trending groups of faulted anticlines were viewed to be caused by oil and gas extraction underneath the city. The extraction of oil and gas produces salty water,How does oil and gas extraction produce salty water? A byproduct of the process? March 2022 adding stress to faults, causing earthquakes. Often wastewater and natural gas production will increase the magnitude of the earthquake making them even more dangerous.How does these elements increase earthquakes' magnitude? March 2022Morton Mary 2019-08-16 Sinking Wastewater Triggers Deeper, Stronger Earthquakes Eos 100 10.1029/2019eo130663 202188716 2324-9250 freeEarthquake Magnitude, Energy Release, and Shaking Intensity U.S. Geological Survey https://www.usgs.gov/programs/earthquake-hazards/earthquake-magnitude-energy-release-and-shaking-intensity 2024-11-18 www.usgs.gov Appearances in documentaries and popular culture Quake! Its Effect on Long Beach and Compton California is a 1933 short film by Guy D. Haselton that documents the earthquake.Quake! (Short 1933) IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1570666Quake! Its Effect on Long Beach and Compton California Silent Film Long Beach Earthquake October 3, 2009 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4-26EIqEac https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/f4-26EIqEac 2021-12-13 liveQuake! Its Effect on Long Beach and Compton California https://archive.org/details/quake_its_effect_on_long_beach_compton When The Earth Trembled is a 1933 Pathé News documentary report on the quake.When The Earth Trembled (1933) April 13, 2014 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ61tIgmS6g The Southern California Earthquake contains archival 1933 footage of the damage.Long Beach / Southern California Earthquake – 1933 – CharlieDeanArchives / Archival Footage February 16, 2016 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fki1HJ5tSO8 Violent Earthquake Brings Desolation To California is a 1933 British Movietone News report on the earthquakeViolent Earthquake Brings Desolation To California YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm5qXVUo5to 21 July 2015 Headline Shooter, a 1933 drama about newsreel photographers starring William Gargan, Frances Dee, and Ralph Bellamy contains newsreel footage of the earthquake. The Long Beach earthquake provides the climax to the 1934 William Wellman film Looking For Trouble, starring Spencer Tracy, Jack Oakie, and Constance Cummings; actual newsreel footage of ruined structures is inter-cut with a set that reproduces the scenes of destruction. The earthquake is included in John Fante's 1939 novel Ask the Dust, and the earthquake scene in the novel is the subject of a public art installation in Pershing Square called "Hey Day" by Barbara McCarren. The earthquake plays a significant part in the novel The Last Tycoon (1941) by F. Scott Fitzgerald. During the disruption caused by the quake, the hero, Monroe Stahr, meets Kathleen Moore, with whom he falls in love. The earthquake is mentioned at the start of John Schlesinger's 1975 film The Day of the Locust, when William Atherton's character is being shown his apartment by the landlady. Footage of the earthquake appeared in the film Encounter with Disaster, released in 1979 and produced by Sun Classic Pictures. The earthquake is mentioned in "Emergency" season 3, episode 2 "The Old Engine" when paramedics of Station 51 buy a junked fire truck that was working in the 1933 earthquake. Gallery See also Bibliography of California history List of earthquakes in 1933 List of earthquakes in California List of earthquakes in the United States References Source parameters of the 1933 Long Beach earthquake http://authors.library.caltech.edu/37028/1/81.full.pdf E. Hauksson S. Gross 1991 Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America Seismological Society of America 81 1 81 2016-04-09 https://web.archive.org/web/20160423093010/http://authors.library.caltech.edu/37028/1/81.full.pdf 2016-04-23 live ISC-GEM Global Instrumental Earthquake Catalogue (1900–2009) http://www.isc.ac.uk/iscgem/index.php ISC 2015 International Seismological Centre Version 2.0 2015-07-12 https://web.archive.org/web/20190520011325/http://www.isc.ac.uk/iscgem/index.php 2019-05-20 live Significant Earthquake Database https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/form?t=101650&s=1&d=1 National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA 10.7289/V5TD9V7K 1972 Data Set 2016-04-09 https://web.archive.org/web/20170721203405/https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/nndc/struts/form?t=101650&s=1&d=1 2017-07-21 dead M6.4 – 7 km WNW of Newport Beach, CA https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci3359741#general United States Geological Survey 2017-08-28 https://web.archive.org/web/20180316152426/https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/ci3359741#general 2018-03-16 live Stover C. W. Coffman J. L. Seismicity of the United States, 1568–1989 (Revised) – U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527 https://books.google.com/books?id=bY0KAQAAIAAJ 1993 United States Government Printing Office 78, 130, 131 2016-10-29 https://web.archive.org/web/20190413193951/https://books.google.com/books?id=bY0KAQAAIAAJ 2019-04-13 live Further reading The 1933 Long Beach Earthquake (California, USA): Ground Motions and Rupture Scenario 2020 Hough S. E. Graves R. W. Scientific Reports 10 1 10017 32572047 7308333 2020NatSR..1010017H 10.1038/s41598-020-66299-w free Hough S. E. Blair L. Ellison S. Graves R. W. Haefner S. Thompson E. M. van der Elst N. Page M. Wald D. J. Modern Products for a Vintage Event: An Update on the 1933 Long Beach, California, Earthquake The Seismic Record 3 2 2023 2694-4006 10.1785/0320230015 171–181 2023SeisR...3..171H 259419280 free External links USGS Historical Earthquakes – Long Beach, California – United States Geological Survey 75th Anniversary of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake – California Department of Conservation National Information Service on Earthquake engineering page about Long Beach earthquake – National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering Catastrophe: A Bad One – Time Long Beach Earthquake: March 10, 1933 Cloyd E. Louis – Internet Archive 905457 Image of workers clearing brick rubble from a sidewalk after the Long Beach earthquake, California, 1933. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. Watch Encounters with Disaster (1979) on the Internet Archive Category:1933 earthquakes 1933 L1933 L1933 Long Beach Category:1933 natural disasters in the United States Category:Disasters in Los Angeles Category:Geology of Los Angeles County, California Category:March 1933 in the United States Category:Strike-slip earthquakes