Earthquakes near Salinas through history

The one on April 18, 1906 was the deadliest: NOAA records 700 deaths for it. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 9 here, back to 1838. NOAA records deaths in 4 of the events here, 765 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5.6 on October 31, 2007 (San Jose). NOAA’s record here begins in June 1838 with an earthquake (San Francisco,San Jose,Santa Clara). 6 of the 9 significant earthquakes NOAA lists here came before 1927. NOAA lists 2 tsunamis that began within 100 km of Salinas, and 7 from elsewhere that reached it with deaths or a metre of water or more. The highest water NOAA records here was 3.79 m, on January 15, 2022. The deadliest here came on April 1, 1946 from a magnitude 8.6 earthquake (Unimak Island, Ak): NOAA’s runup records count one death within 100 km of Salinas.

• January 15, 2022Tsunami · 3.79 m hereTonga IslandsNOAA NCEI
• October 31, 2007Earthquake · M 5.6San JoseNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 1, 1946Tsunami · 1.57 m hereUnimak Island, Ak · one death here (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• April 18, 1906Earthquake · M 7.9The 1906 San Francisco, California Earthquake · 700 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• January 9, 1857Earthquake · M 7.9 (est.)San Luis Obispo · 2 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
• June 1838Earthquake · M 7.0 (est.)San Francisco,San Jose,Santa ClaraNOAA NCEI · Wikipedia

• An event counts for Salinas when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km 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