Los Angeles is subject to earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire . The geologic instability has produced numerous faults , which cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes annually in Southern California , though most of them are too small to be felt . The strike-slip San Andreas Fault system is at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate , and is vulnerable to the " big one " , a potentially large and damaging event after the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 . The Los Angeles basin and metropolitan area are also at risk from blind thrust earthquakes . Major earthquakes that have hit the Los Angeles area include the 1933 Long Beach , 1971 San Fernando , 1987 Whittier Narrows , and the 1994 Northridge events . Nevertheless , all but a few are of low intensity and are not felt . The USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast which models earthquake occurrence in California . Parts of the city are also vulnerable to tsunamis ; harbor areas were damaged by waves from Aleutian Islands earthquake in 1946 , Valdivia earthquake in 1960 , Alaska earthquake in 1964 , Chile earthquake in 2010 and Japan earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011
Japan earthquake
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
Los Angeles