Devastating Earthquake Alarm for Los Angeles by USGS – false!

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USGS, the US government run by the US Department of the Interior and their network based in Hawaii in charge of measuring, alerting and warning about earthquakes and tsunamis worldwide just emailed an alert to thousands of media and stakeholders around the world about a 6.8 Earthquake in the Santa Barbara Channel. Such an earthquake could have had devastating consequences.

It was a false alarm triggered by a staffer who was putting in old earthquake data from 1925.  if it was real, such an alarm could have triggered panic.

eTN reached out to USGS media spokesperson Justin Pressfield. He confirmed, it was an error and a mistake in putting in a date.  The date on the alert such circulated was the year 2025 and it should have been 1925. Since 2025 is a future date, it triggered an immediate alert and email warnings. Perhaps the future for California is already set – let’s hope not.

M6.8 – SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL, CALIF.

Preliminary Earthquake Report
Magnitude 6.8
Date-Time
  • 29 Jun 2025 14:42:16 UTC
  • 29 Jun 2025 07:42:16 near epicenter
  • 29 Jun 2025 03:42:16 standard time in your timezone
Location 34.300N 119.800W
Depth 10 km
Distances
  • 14 km (9 miles) SSE (156 degrees) of Isla Vista, CA
  • 16 km (10 miles) S (175 degrees) of Goleta, CA
  • 16 km (10 miles) SW (214 degrees) of downtown Santa Barbara, CA
  • 145 km (90 miles) W (281 degrees) of Los Angeles Civic Center, CA
Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 0.0 km; Vertical 0.0 km
Parameters Nph = 0; Dmin = 0.0 km; Rmss = 0.00 seconds; Gp = 0°
Version = 0
Event ID ci 37161284

 

Shortly after the alert, USGS posted to twitter.

USGS | eTurboNews | eTN

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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