False Alarm for 6.5 Magnitude Earthquake
Edhat Staff
June 24, 2017, 5:58 am
3.3k Views
The U.S Geological Survey (USGS) reports a software glitch sent out an email alert about a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Santa Barbara on Wednesday. As locals know, this earthquake didn’t happen this year, but it did in 1925.
According to The Los Angeles Times, someone at Caltech tried to correct the location recorded for the earthquake that took place 92 years ago. The alert was accidentally emailed out around 4:49 p.m., however, it was dated June 29, 2025 at 7:42 a.m. The accidental alert also did not show up on the USGS website and earthquake map.
Earthquake trackers took to social media to question the report as locals were sure they didn’t miss such a massive quake.
USGS issued a statement around 5:30 p.m on Twitter to clear up any confusion.:
Regarding: https://t.co/z8Ykmo6OXX pic.twitter.com/68Q0I2Ix2j
— USGS (@USGS) June 22, 2017
(Photo: Mission Santa Barbara following the 1925 earthquake / Southern California Earthquake Data Center)
Written by Edhat Staff
