M 5.5 - The 1952 Bakersfield, California Earthquake

Heavy damage, estimated at $10 million [equivalent to about $115 million in 2023 dollars¹], occurred in the downtown area of Bakersfield. Two people were killed and several were injured.

Damage was confined mainly to brick buildings in a 64-block area of downtown Bakersfield. Larger, multistory, concrete and steel frame buildings sustained rather light damage. There were few complete collapses of buildings, but out of 396 structures that were damaged, 90 or more had to be razed. Many of these buildings had suffered considerable damage from the earthquake on July 21, 1952, and the aftershocks. Outside the downtown area, chimneys twisted and fell, and plaster and walls cracked. This earthquake was felt over a large part of south-central California - from Hollister south to Los Angeles and from the coast east to the Nevada border. (Ref. 25, 292, 549.)

Maximum observed Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) VIII

Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1527, United States Government Printing Office, Washington: 1993.

¹Based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index and calculated in "Inflation Calculator", U.S. Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance (https://www.officialdata.org/), retrieved 24 Feb 2024.

"Though only about the fifth strongest of the aftershocks of the July 21 Kern County quake, the earthquake of August 22 caused a significant amount of damage for three reasons. First, of the sizable aftershocks of the July 21 quake, it was the closest to Bakersfield, the largest city in the area. Second, it occurred after at least 18 other aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater had shaken the area, weakening structures over the course of a month. Third, the quake shook with a high frequency, one which targeted short, rigid buildings."

Abridged from The 1952 Bakersfield Earthquake, SCEDC (2013), Southern California Earthquake Center, California Institute of Technology, on-line at https://scedc.caltech.edu/earthquake/chronological.html, retrieved 24 Feb 2024.