Damage and intensity survey

A trio of widely felt earthquakes struck the Cape Mendocino region of northern California in an 18-hour period on April 25-26, 1992. Collectively these shocks caused significant damage to older structures in the sparsely populated, mountainous epicentral region. The area where the first shock, the strongest of the three (M=7.1), was felt included southwestern Oregon and extended as far south as Monterey, California.

A field team (the tuhors) from the National Earthquake Information Center (USGS) conducted a damage survey of the epicentral area in the week following the earthquakes. Detailed information about damage and where and how strongly the earthquakes were felt was obtained through interviews with local residents and personal observations.