A preliminary magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was reported around 12:20 p.m. and felt throughout Los Angeles County, in areas including Pasadena and Studio City. The USGS initially reported the quake as a magnitude 4.6, but later updated it to a magnitude 4.4. another earthquake in the region in June, with its epicenter in South Pasadena and felt in areas including Los Feliz and Long Beach.
Los Angeles Enters Earthquake Mode
The Los Angeles Fire Department is sending crews to check for potential damage to buildings. All 106 LAFD fire stations are participating in damage inspections as the city enters earthquake mode.
Around 1 p.m., LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said the department had nearly completed those inspections, which also involve air and sea efforts, and that no damage had been reported so far. She said she felt the shaking at LAFD headquarters.
“We felt it immediately,” Stewart said.
LA Metro had earlier said it was slowing trains so the county’s transit system tracks could be checked for damage, but later said it was resuming regular service because no damage had been found.
South Pasadena Police Chief Brian Solinsky said around 1:10 p.m. that no injuries or damage had been reported. He said, however, that the intensity of the shaking may have caused some minor damage, and said that building renovations may be part of the reason the city’s infrastructure has held up so well.
“This one could have easily broken a few windows,” Solinsky said.
Seismologists at the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, said they felt tremors on the Pasadena campus.
Last week, a magnitude of 5.2 earthquake near bakersfield Tremors shook the Southern California region, with tremors felt in parts of Kern, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
Over the next two days there was more than 400 shocks less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the epicenter of the quake, which USC seismologist John Vidale said could all be considered aftershocks since that area typically doesn’t have much seismic activity.
On which fault did the earthquake occur?
Seismologist Lucy Jones said there had been other earthquakes on the same fault as Monday’s.
“This area is a network of different faults, so it’s not something that’s on the same surface,” Jones said. “The same network was involved in the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987, but we’ll never be able to say for sure if it’s the same strand because it’s complex and deep. But it’s the same system as the Whittier Narrows.”
This earthquake struck the southern San Gabriel Valley in 1987 and injured 200 people and killed at least three.
Caltech seismologists also said the earthquake occurred along the Elysian Park fault.
Check back regularly for updates on this developing story.
