Earthquakes near Fairfield, 1927–2026

It was also the deadliest: NOAA records one death for it. 7 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 3 of the events here, 3 in all. NOAA lists 4 tsunamis from elsewhere that reached the coast within 60 mi of Fairfield with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3.6 m, on March 28, 1964. The deadliest here came on March 28, 1964 from a magnitude 9.2 earthquake (Prince William Sound, Ak): NOAA’s runup records count one death within 60 mi of Fairfield.

• August 24, 2014Earthquake · M 6.0The 2014 South Napa, California Earthquake · one death (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• January 24, 1980Earthquake · M 5.9LivermoreNOAA NCEI
• March 28, 1964Tsunami · 3.6 m herePrince William Sound, Ak · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Fairfield when it began within 60 mi of its centre, or 120 mi for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
• USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
• NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
• Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
• A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
• Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history