It was an alarming report of a major earthquake on the South Coast. It would have been a huge quake, one causing widespread damage.
Caltech sent out a report just before five last night of a magnitude 6.8 earthquake off the coast of Santa Barbara. But, there was no quake.
And, if you looked closer at the report, you would have immediately known something was amiss. It was dated June 29th, 2025. That happens to be the 100th anniversary of Santa Barbara’s destructive 1925 earthquake, which was a magnitude 6.8.
Caltech officials say what happened was some staff members were trying to correct the exact location of the 1925 quake, based on research at UC Santa Barbara. When they made the change, it sent an e-mail out on the US Geological Survey’s server which posts alerts on recent earthquakes.
The 1925 quake killed more than a dozen people, and destroyed much of downtown Santa Barbara.
