3.2 Quake Centered Near El Segundo Rattles LA (And Earthquake Twitter)

El Segundo, Westchester and LAX got rattled Wednesday evening by a small earthquake — a magnitude of 3.2 just east of the airport’s northern runways.

The quake it hit at 5:08 p.m. and, so far, has generated no reports of damage or injuries. LAX officials said they inspected the runways and gave the “all-clear.”

Seismologist Lucy Jones described the earthquake as “pretty much run-of-the-mill.” She also said it was near — but not on — the Newport-Inglewood Fault. That was the fault that generated the famed Long Beach Earthquake in 1933. It was magnitude 6.4 and it was one of the most damaging quakes in Southern California history.

Keep up with LAist.

If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.

Subscribe

Wendesday's quake was felt around the region (although someone in our newsroom asked in Slack "EARTHQUAKE or the wind?") . L.A. earthquake Twitter got lit too, as users exchanged messages of where they felt it at (or snoozed through it).

Maps shows the location of an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 3.4 centers right at LAX

(

Courtesy USGS

)

The shaking was initially reported as a higher magnitude, which is common as seismologists assess the available data.

USGS officials are urging Southern Californians to report what they felt. They also explained why the quake did not generate an alert for those who have the ShakeAlert app.