The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). Damage to buildings was widespread throughout

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

. It resulted in 115 to 120 fatalities and an estimated $40 million worth of property damage, equivalent to $ million in . The majority of the fatalities resulted from people running out of buildings exposing themselves to the falling debris.

Damage

Major damage occurred in the densely populated city of Long Beach on the south-facing coast of

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

. However, the damage was also found in the industrial area south of

downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

. An estimated 75,000 mi² area was impacted, being felt as far as

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

Owens Valley Owens Valley (Mono language (California), Mono: ''Payahǖǖnadǖ'', meaning "place of flowing water") is an arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States. It is located to the east of the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra ...

, and Northern

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

. The magnitude of the earthquake is considered medium, but a significant amount of damage occurred due to unfavorable geological conditions (landfill, water-soaked

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

) combined with poorly constructed buildings. In Long Beach, buildings collapsed, water tanks fell through roofs, and houses were tossed off their

foundations Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

. School buildings were among the structures that incurred the most severe damage. 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. 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." Among other buildings, the La Grande Station, the main Los Angeles terminal of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad, was heavily damaged.

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. 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. 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. 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 The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

physicist

Robert Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan ( ; March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1923 "for his work on the elementary charge of electricity and on the photoelectric effect". Millikan gradua ...

, and included architects John C. Austin and

Sumner Hunt Sumner P. Hunt (Brooklyn, New York state, May 8, 1865 – Los Angeles, California, November 19, 1938) was an architect in Los Angeles from 1888 to the 1930s. On January 21, 1892, he married Mary Hancock Chapman. They had a daughter Louise Hunt. ...

. In June 1933 they released their report, which advocated for stronger building codes. The

Bureau of Public Roads The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

also took action to rebuild roads, highways, and bridges. 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. This earthquake prompted the federal government to play an active role in disaster relief. The government created the

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government that served as a lender of last resort to US banks and businesses. Established in ...

, 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 Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a resi ...

Cause

A 2016 press release by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

indicates that research shows the 1933 Long Beach earthquake may have been man-made, caused by oil and gas extraction underneath the city. 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. 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. This study was done by two scientists that studied early state oil drilling records. They found that the epicenters of these earthquakes were located near areas where significant changes occurred in oil production areas. 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. Within the Los Angeles depositional basin, northwest-trending groups of faulted

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

s were viewed to be caused by oil and gas extraction underneath the city. The extraction of oil and gas produces salty water, adding stress to faults, causing earthquakes. Often wastewater and natural gas production will increase the magnitude of the earthquake making them even more dangerous. The Newport–Inglewood Fault, the source of the 1933 earthquake, 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 onshore from Culver City to Newport Beach, where it enters the Pacific Ocean. This fault is expected to produce an earthquake of magnitude 7.4. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake was only a magnitude of about 6.4, approximately ten times less vibration amplitude and 32 times less energy release than that of a magnitude 7.4 earthquake.

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. * ''When The Earth Trembled'' is a 1933

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as "British Pathé". I ...

documentary report on the quake. * ''The Southern California Earthquake'' contains archival 1933 footage of the damage. * ''Violent Earthquake Brings Desolation To California'' is a 1933

British Movietone News Movietone News was a newsreel that ran from December 1927 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Spain in the early 1930s a ...

report on the earthquake * '' Headline Shooter'', a 1933 drama about

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

photographers starring

William Gargan William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 16, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

Frances Dee Frances Marion Dee (November 26, 1909 – March 6, 2004) was an American actress. Her first film was the musical ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930). She starred in the film ''An American Tragedy (film), An American Tragedy'' (1931). She is also known ...

, and

Ralph Bellamy Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and award ...

contains newsreel footage of the earthquake. * The Long Beach earthquake provides the climax to the

William Wellman William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in Crime film, crime, Adventure film, adventure, and Action film, a ...

film '' Looking For Trouble'', starring

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the ...

, 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. * Footage of the earthquake appeared in the film ''Encounter with Disaster'', released in 1979 and produced by Sun Classic Pictures.

Gallery

File:Architect and engineer (1934) (14578209967).jpg, Damaged buildings throughout Long Beach File:Union High School in Compton after an earthquake, March 10, 1933.jpg, Compton Union High School File:Compton Junior High School, 1933.jpg, Compton Junior High School File:1933 Long Beach Earthquake aftermath.jpg, Damage to building in Long Beach File:Destroyed building in Huntington Park after the 1933 earthquake.jpg, Destroyed building in Huntington Park File:Corner of 4th St. and Pacific Ave. after the earthquake, Long Beach, 1933.jpg, Corner of 4th St. and Pacific Ave., Long Beach File:Camping on the street.jpg, Camping out in South Gate after the earthquake File:California - Compton - NARA - 23934193.jpg, Compton File:California - Compton - NARA - 23934187.jpg, Compton File:California - Long Beach - NARA - 23934463.jpg, Long Beach File:California - Long Beach - NARA - 23934461.jpg, Long Beach File:California - Gardenia through General Grant National Park - NARA - 23934337.jpg, Gardena File:California - Santa Ana - NARA - 23935265.jpg, Santa Ana File:Borderlands active faults page.jpg, The epicenter and its relative location to offshore faults

References

External links

USGS Historical Earthquakes – Long Beach, California
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75th Anniversary of the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake
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California Department of Conservation California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

National Information Service on Earthquake engineering page about Long Beach earthquake
– National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering

– ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''
''Long Beach Earthquake: March 10, 1933'' Cloyd E. Louis
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Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

*
Image of workers clearing brick rubble from a sidewalk after the Long Beach earthquake, California, 1933.
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections,

Charles E. Young Research Library The Charles E. Young Research Library is one of the largest libraries on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Westwood, Los Angeles, California. It initially opened in 1964, and a second phase of construction was completed ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. * Watch ''Encounters with Disaster (1979)'' on the Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Long Beach Earthquake, 1933 1933 earthquakes

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

L1933 L1933

1933 natural disasters in the United States Disasters in Los Angeles Geology of Los Angeles County, California March 1933 in the United States Strike-slip earthquakes