THE EARTHQUAKE IN ORANGE COUNTY : PREVIOUS QUAKES FELT IN ORANGE COUNTY

July 8, 1986: A quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale and centered near Palm Springs shook people awake at 2:21 a.m. No injuries or major damage reported.

Oct. 23, 1981: Two 4.5 shocks, followed by five smaller temblors, shook the area from Oxnard to Orange County. The quakes, centered in an offshore fault 40 miles southwest of Santa Monica, left no damage.

Oct. 15, 1979: A 6.4 quake, centered in Calexico, Imperial County, pushed Orange County 6 inches to the north, seismologists said. No damage or injuries reported.

Feb. 9, 1971: The San Fernando quake, measuring 6.4, left no injuries and very little damage in Orange County. Nine of the 10 pre-1933 schools in Santa Ana that had been structurally reinforced in 1967 survived the temblor. The 10th, Lowell School, received buckled walls in one of its wings. The school board decided to raze it.

Oct. 27, 1969: Quake centered off coast near Laguna Beach measured 4.3. No injuries. Quake occurred on coastal extensions of the Newport-Inglewood Fault.

Oct. 20, 1961: Nine sharp shocks centered near Huntington Beach cracked plaster, broke windows and damaged merchandise. No injuries recorded. Magnitude about 4.3.

March 10, 1933: Four people in Orange County were among the 100 dead in what is known as the Long Beach quake. But the 6.3 quake was actually centered in Orange County at the intersection of Brookhurst Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach, along the Newport-Inglewood Fault.

Dec. 21, 1812: Two major quakes in Southern California, estimated to measure 7 to 7.5 each, caused widespread damage, including toppling the chapel of Mission San Juan Capistrano, killing 34.