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A 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck overnight near Malibu — followed by a series of aftershocks.
The 2 a.m. shaking jolted people awake, followed by six aftershocks, the largest being a 3.5 quake just minutes after the first. The most recent was a 1.6 registering about 6 a.m.
L.A. City Fire says it conducted a 470 square-mile survey, and no damage or injuries have been reported.
The quake was nine miles deep and centered offshore, nearly 10 miles south of Malibu and 15 miles southwest of Santa Monica.
Good morning Southern California! Did you feel the magnitude 4.2 earthquake about 10 miles south of Malibu Beach at 2:03 am? The #ShakeAlert system was activated. See: https://t.co/14WBptlPYi @Cal_OES @CAGeoSurvey @CaltechSeismo pic.twitter.com/PQHTrsy1Yk
— USGS ShakeAlert (@USGS_ShakeAlert) January 25, 2023
Well, a M4.2 in Malibu doesn’t shake Pasadena enough to wake anyone up. This is a similar location to the M5.2 that happened during the Rose Bowl game. That was felt in Pasadena with a “hmm, what was that? Do you think that was an earthquake?” Type of reaction
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) January 25, 2023
If you did feel something, the USGS encourages you to report it via their Shake map, which provides data to scientists studying earthquakes. As of sunrise Wednesday, nearly 9,000 people had made a report, most living relatively close to the epicenter.
A 2.3 quake centered in Sherman Oaks earlier this week got fewer than 300 reports.
We don't want to scare you, but the Big One is coming. We don't know when, but we know it'll be at least 44 times stronger than Northridge and 11 times stronger than the Ridgecrest quakes in 2019. To help you get prepared, we've compiled a handy reading list
