March 24, 1806: This quake caused extensive damage to the Presidio Chapel and cracked three walls of the chapel at the Santa Barbara Mission. Magnitude: Unknown
Dec. 21-22, 1812: This was one of the strongest earthquakes in Southern California history and may have originated in the Santa Barbara Channel. Severe shaking reduced to “rubble and ruin” the La Purísima Mission in Lompoc, about 55 miles north of Santa Barbara, and the Santa Barbara Mission was damaged beyond repair. The Santa Barbara Presidio also was damaged, and soldiers built thatched huts near the Mission to live in for the next three months. José Arguello, the Presidio commander, reported that there were tremors through Jan. 14, 1813, and that the ground opened up at several places (he did not specify where), creating sulphur-spewing volcanos.
The Santa Ines Mission, San Buenaventura Mission and San Fernando Mission in Mission Hills, 140 miles south of La Purísima, were damaged. A tsunami was reported on the South Coast of Santa Barbara County, likely triggered by a massive underwater slide. In one eyewitness news report, a Santa Barbara resident described how the sea receded, leaving the shore dry “for a considerable distance” and how it returned “in five or six heavy rollers, which overflowed the plain on which Santa Barbara is built.” The Chumash abandoned villages on Santa Rosa Island. Magnitude: 7.0
July 27-Dec. 12, 1902: A series of sharp, violent shocks collectively known as the Los Alamos earthquake struck the town on July 27, damaging two large tanks of oil totaling 125,000 gallons. One of the shocks was likened to the report of a thousand cannons. A small river of water began flowing in Los Alamos Creek, which had been dry for several years. On July 31, two more quakes hit, damaging every house and toppling every chimney in town. Fissures and cracks appeared in the ground. The “epidemic of earthquakes” lasted months. Magnitude: 6.0
June 29, 1925
The Santa Barbara earthquake is the most destructive in the city’s history in terms of loss of life and property. Eleven people were killed by falling debris. Two of them, guests at the Arlington Hotel, were crushed by a 25,000-pound water tank that crashed through the roof. It had been placed there for safety reasons, in case of fire. The Sheffield Dam cracked apart, releasing 45 million gallons of water to the ocean at East Beach. Eighty percent of the commercial buildings in the city were damaged or destroyed, piling so much rubble on State Street that travel by car was impossible. More than 600 buildings were damaged or destroyed, including 400 large commercial and government buildings. The damage was estimated at $15 million — about $275 million in today’s dollars. Magnitude: 6.5-6.8
June 29, 1926: A strong aftershock of the 1925 quake, one year later to the day. The Santa Barbara downtown was moderately damaged, and one person was killed. Magnitude: 5.5
Nov. 4, 1927: The Lompoc earthquake. The epicenter was offshore; some scientists believe it was about 28 miles west of Point Conception, and others place it closer to the coast. Three smaller quakes followed within 30 minutes. The temblor shook ships on the ocean, but it was felt most intensely in western Santa Barbara County, particularly in Lompoc, Santa Maria and Los Alamos, where chimneys collapsed, windows cracked and the cornices of buildings fell to the ground. A well-documented tsunami 8 feet high was generated along the North County coast. Several hundred thousand cubic feet of sand under the tracks of the Southern Pacific Railroad shook loose and fell to the beach below. Service was interrupted until repairs could be made. Magnitude: 7.0
June 30, 1941: The epicenter of this quake was centered in the Channel, about six miles south of Santa Barbara. Downtown buildings, especially those that had not been adequately repaired after the 1925 quake, suffered extensive damage, as scores of store windows were smashed and brick facades were toppled. Thirty glass-topped street lamps were snapped off, and water mains suffered 17 breaks. In Carpinteria, about 25 chimneys collapsed. Damage was estimated at $100,000, most of which was to drug and liquor stocks and plate glass. Magnitude: 5.9
July 21, 1952: The Tehachapi earthquake originated in Kern County and caused $400,000 worth of damage to downtown Santa Barbara. Like all the great quakes, this one was noted for strong, slow ground oscillations that can cause damage at considerable distance from the epicenter. The Santa Barbara County Courthouse was reported to have “rocked like a rocking chair.” The Carrillo Hotel and Balboa building suffered the most damage. Liquefaction was reported along Laguna Street in the historic El Estero. Magnitude: 7.7
July 5, 1968: A swarm of 63 minor quakes occurred in the Channel, midway between Santa Cruz Island and Santa Barbara, between June 26 and Aug. 3. The largest caused $12,000 in damage in Santa Barbara and Goleta. Magnitude: 5.2
Aug. 13, 1978: Starting in March 1978 and continuing sporadically through July 1978, a swarm of microquakes occurred beneath the northeastern end of the Santa Barbara Channel. Toward the end of the swarm, at the end of July and in early August, Santa Barbara residents complained of an unusually large amount of oil and tar on local beaches. On Aug. 13, an offshore fault south of Santa Barbara abruptly ruptured, focusing its energy in a northwest direction, toward the Goleta Valley. Most of the shaking occurred between Turnpike and Winchester Canyon roads.
The damage was estimated at more than $7 million, primarily at UC Santa Barbara. Ten of 50 permanent buildings on the campus were damaged, and one-third of the books in the university library — some 400,000 volumes — were thrown to the floor. The Santa Barbara airport terminal was leaning. More than 300 mobile homes were damaged, including many knocked from their pedestals, rupturing gas, water and electrical connections. A landslide blocked San Marcos Pass. Ten minutes after the quake, a freight train derailed at a kink in the tracks in Goleta. In all, 65 people were treated for injuries. Magnitude: 5.9
Sources: UCSB catalog of “Santa Barbara Earthquakes, 1800 to 1960,” compiled and edited by the late Art Sylvester, UCSB professor emeritus in geological sciences; Sylvester’s “Earthquake Swarm in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, 1969” ; “Final Report, July 2000, Earthquake Hazard of the Santa Barbara Fold Belt, California,” by the late Ed Keller, a UCSB professor of earth science and environmental sciences; and “Commemorating the 100-Year Anniversary of the June 29, 1925 Santa Barbara Earthquake,” by engineering geologist Larry Gurrola, Ph.D.