Results tagged “quake”

Another in a series of quake swarm events struck near Keeler, CA tonight during the 6 p.m. hour. 30 minor to moderate earthquakes struck between 6:09 and 7:10 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey. The largest shaker was measured at magnitude 5.2 at 6:15 p.m. It was preceded by increasingly larger earthquakes at 3.1, 4.7 and 4.9.

Remember the hundreds of small quakes shaking the Salton Sea back in April? After a 5.1 shaker early this morning, dozens of smaller earthquakes have shook the small town of Keeler, which is about 148 miles from Las Vegas. Considering all the recent major earthquakes (and tsunamis) in American Samoa, Indonesia and Peru, are these related to each other? National Public Radio's Morning Edition ask that question this morning, interviewing scientists:

Not too many local reports of people feeling the large quake in the Gulf of California one-minutes shy of 11 a.m., but it definitely shook up the water cooler talk in San Diego and other border cities and as far as Phoenix and El Paso. The 10:59 a.m. 6.9 quake struck just four minutes after a 5.8 shaker. The large quake was followed by 5.0 and 5.9 quakes within an hour. There have been no reports of damage or injuries. The large quake may have been caused by "an unidentified strike-slip style fault," according to Scienceduce Gary Robbins at the OC Register via seismologist Sue Hough at USGS in Pasadena.

A minor 3.2 quake struck near Los Angeles International Airport at 9:14 p.m., but caused no reported damage as of a half hour later, according to the LA Times. The earthquake was also located in the same general area of a few quakes that struck in May. A 4.7 rattler struck on May 17 followed by a 4.1 on May 19. These little quakes are always a good reminder to get prepared: store water, take CERT and take other measures (.pdf) to help make one of the potentially worst days of your life--when the big one strikes--a little better.

For the second time this week, an earthquake has struck an area 10 miles southwest of downtown near unincorporated Lennox. The 4.1 shaker struck at 3:49 p.m. this afternoon, followed by a 2.5 aftershock at 3:51 p.m. On Sunday evening, a 4.7 rattler shook up in the same area and earlier this month, a 4.4 struck in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Los Angeles Fire Department is reporting no immediate damage, but per policy, they must enter into "Earthquake Emergency Mode" and "actively survey" the city by ground and air to make sure. UPDATE: Officials at Caltech are saying this was an aftershock from Sunday's 4.7 quake.

In the past 24 hours, thirteen mircroquakes and one minor quake have struck the Salton Sea area where over 400 little quakes have shook the ground in the last month. That minor one, a 3.5 magnitude shaker, happened yesterday afternoon around 3 p.m. Athough, the number of quakes have calmed, "Seismologist Kate Hutton of the California Institute of Technology said it will take a fair amount of quiet time before scientists can declare the swarm over," reported the Press Telegram in Long Beach.

View 4/7/09 Microquake Locations in a larger map

The 380 or so small and moderate earthquakes shaking the area around the Salton Sea died down this weekend with a count of around 22 quakes. "The only reason this swarm got a lot of attention is that it's very close to the southern end of the San Andreas Fault, which we're always watching very closely," said seismologist Kate Hutton of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena to the Pasadena Star News. One theory seismologists have is that "a series of small earthquakes in that area could trigger a larger quake along the fault line," the paper reported. Taking advantage of the media frenzy, the Los Angeles Fire Department put the Community Emergency Response Team on guard and hoped that the public at large would start getting more prepared.

You can't predict an earthquake, but there's been a certain amount of buzz around city hall water coolers this week regarding a plethora of minor and moderate tremblers taking place around Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea, 150 miles east of Los Angeles at the tip of the San Andreas fault. News headlines told of 42 quakes over the weekend through Monday and there's been 31 today alone as of 7 p.m.

At the base of the San Andreas Fault, where 42 small quakes struck over the weekend, a moderate 4.8 magnitude quake occurred this morning around 4:55 a.m., the LA Times is now reporting. It was followed by 23 aftershocks including a 3.1 shaker. "The only interesting thing about this one is that it occurred at the end of the San Andreas fault," said Kate Hutton, a seismologist at Caltech, to the Times. "Bombay Beach is considered the southern end of the San Andreas fault. The last swarm of earthquakes similar to this was in 2001. We're watching it closely. We'll be analyzing everything."

The land of Bruce and Bon Jovi is Full of...wimps. Southern California is no stranger to daily microquakes. In fact, just in the past week, we've had 15 of them. But when a quake shakes the bridge and tunnel crowd--like the 3.0 quake did last night--they freak. Via Gothamist, the Star-Ledger reports, "It sounded like an explosion, houses shook and dogs started barking." Other residents said it felt like a "bomb" and one man told WCBS 2, "I was upstairs on my computer, and all of a sudden I hear a boom, boom, boom, then a bang, bang, bang. My monitor almost fell off of my computer desk. So I immediately went downstairs to check on my grandma and ask her if she was alright or if she fell."

It seems the San Andreas fault has a habit of shaking us up pretty badly once every 137 years, and scientists from UC Irvine believe we are long overdue for the "Big One." The last "massive" earthquake to rumble along the infamous fault line was in 1857, "when one struck at an estimated magnitude of 7.9," according to an AP article in the Long Beach Press-Telegram. That means the next major quake is now 15 years behind schedule on the San Andreas; the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, whose 15-year-anniversary was last weekend, was a magnitude 6.7, however it was mainly centered on the Northridge (sometimes called Pico) Thrust, not the San Andreas. Several recent small earthquakes are serving as a reminder that here in Southern California we've built our cities on Mother Nature's turf, and the "Big One" could hit us at any moment--one very "Big" reason to focus on preparedness and safety.

A 4.5 earthquake, first reported to be magnitude 5.0, struck tonight in the San Bernardino area at 7:49 p.m. There have been no immediate reports of major damage or injuries save for pictures frames and other household items falling in homes near the epicenter.

Residents of the SCV might have felt a teeny tiny trembler this morning, as a 3.0 magnitude quake rumbled three miles deep in the area at 9:17. Residents of nearby Piru and Stevenson Ranch are either really deep sleepers or just shrug off small shakers like this one, since, according to abc7.com, "the sheriff's office in nearby Santa Clarita reported it got no calls" and "a check with several businesses in Castaic Junction and Val Verde found no one who felt it."

A minor earthquake was recorded this morning at 7:39. It was centered in the ocean, 13 miles east of Santa Cruz Island, and measured 3.5 in magnitude; the quake was closest to the mainland cities of Ventura, Oxnard, and Port Hueneme, although abc7.com is reporting it as taking place near Malibu and Anacapa island. Just a couple of days ago many here in the greater Los Angeles area felt the 5.1 jolt from the desert, centered in a town with a population of 10. Did you feel this one? See the "shake map" here.

A moderate earthquake tonight shook near Ludlow, CA, an extremely small San Bernardino County town 120 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert.

"I've decided that the massive earthquake thing is a story we tell [to] stop people from moving here and driving up real estate prices," PixieMegh from Anheim wrote on Twitter. But what about potential tourists? Only show this video to them after they arrive (smile).

Luckily, the earthquake that struck in Central California 24 minutes after the largest earthquake drill in US history taking place in the Los Angeles region was only a small one. At 10:24 a.m., a 3.2 quake struck near San Juan Bautista, a city northwest of Monterey and Salinas. It was followed by a 1.7 aftershock six minutes later.

A follow up from yesterday's amazing and scary video. Sign up to participate (or just do it anyway) at the Great Southern California ShakeOut website.

Finally. With tomorrow's massive earthquake drill planned for 10:00 a.m. (are you taking part in the Great Southern California ShakeOut?), the federal government along with tons of scientists and local agencies have put out this death-defying dramatic video on YouTube that will hopefully scare the bejesus out of Los Angeles area residents to actually prepare themselves. This is one of those scare tactics we'll gladly accept from big bro. Get thyself prepared.

There's no such thing as earthquake weather, but with yesterday's 3.0 and today's 4.0, it gives some people the jitters. Early this morning at 2:41 a.m., the 4.0 shaker struck 6 miles northeast of Yucaipa in the San Bernardino County. There were no reports of injuries or damage. But this one has got us thinking. Here's some food for thought: what if the big one happens and you're in bed with the flu?

A few minutes before 8:00 p.m. last night, a small 3.0 earthquake shook the Westside. The quake, located two miles north of El Segundo caused no reported damage, but a cat might have jumped and tipped over a glass of milk or something. Nevertheless, each little microquake is a good reminder to think about preparing oneself for "the big one." One good way is to participate in The Great Southern California ShakeOut where 3.7 million people have already signed up to drop, cover and hold on November 13.

Remember that earthquake we had last week? You know, the 5.4 magnitude that struck just before lunchtime and had tall office buildings swaying on their rollers, grocery stores seeing items topple from shelves to the floor, and the media scrapping all other programming for non-stop post-quake coverage. Yeah, that one. Well, if you felt it, the US Geological Survey wants to know about it.

"Running is one of the most dangerous things you can do," explained Brian Humphrey, Spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department and a previous Community Emergency Response Team instructor. "People can lose their lives when they run, especially when windows or glass mirrors are near. You should duck, cover and hold."

Metrolink service was restored to normal speeds at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon, according to Denise Tyrrell, Public Information Officer for the transit agency. "Afternoon commuters are cautioned to anticipate 15-30 minutes delays as we recover from earlier service delays," she said in an e-mail. Interruptions and delays occurred earlier today because all tracks had to undergo mandatory post-earthquake inspection.

Glad I wasn't in that aisle when this happened. This is from a security camera inside Incycle Bicycles in San Dimas.

All still minor damage being reported throughout the Southern California region after this morning's earthquake, but here's a photo of some cement bricks fallen on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles in the 300 block of South Broadway. It appears they may have been swept up into a pile.

     

At the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, there was some damage to what looks like lighting and tables on two floors after this morning's 5.4 earthquake in Chino Hills. Flickr user, Jason Sherwin, quickly snapped photos and uploaded them to the web.

Whether it was the shaking or a surge of readers checking the LA Times' website, it was shut down temporarily after the 5.4, 11:42 a.m. earthquake in Chino Hills.