Welcome! This Web site contains eyewitness accounts and historical photographs from notable damaging earthquakes that have occurred in or near Santa Barbara County, California. It also contains a catalog of all earthquakes that have been felt in the greater Santa Barbara region between 1800 and 1960.

To use this site, either scroll down the page or click on the buttons below to jump to one of the earthquake listings on this page. Most of the photographs are in the pages for the 1925 and 1978 earthquakes.

[1812] [1857] [1902] [1925] [1927] [1978]


 

 

The 1812 Santa Barbara Earthquake 

 

In Brief and Map

Catch the wave ( Tsunami !)
Mission La Concepcion Purisima
Padre Señan's report
A Chumash outpost

Contemporary Reports

References to contemporary writings about the EQ

 
 
The 1857 Fort Tejon Earthquake
In Brief

On bended knees in Santa Barbara
Earthquake poetry

 
The 1902 Los Alamos Earthquakes
In Brief

Terror reigns in Los Alamos
The evacuation
Opinions of the experts
Thirteen years later

 
The 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake


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In Brief

A poorly placed water tank at the Arlington Hotel
In the choir loft of the Santa Barbara Mission
A sultry night on the Mesa
On the links
At the railroad station
The collapse of the San Marcos building
Unsupported brick walls at the Californian Hotel
The dam break
The Red Cross to the rescue
Gin Chow's earthquake prediction

Photo Gallery courtesy of V. H. Uhlik

 
The 1927 Lompoc Earthquake
In Brief

Aboard ship
A small tsunami
Some peculiar effects of the earthquake

 
The 1978 Goleta Earthquake

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In Brief and Map

Inside a paint shaker
The train wreck
What happens to mobile homes during earthquakes
A shakin' and a rattlin' at U.C. Santa Barbara



Related Web Sites
On Earthquakes
On Santa Barbara


[1812] [1857] [1902] [1925] [1927] [1978]



This webpage conceived and designed by Grant Lindley, 1996

Last modified: 21 February 2006 by Arthur Gibbs Sylvester