Magnitude 4.7 earthquake rocks parts of Southern California
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
(CNN) — A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has been detected in California’s Ventura County, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The earthquake, which struck at 7:28 a.m., was centered about 4 miles north of Malibu, the USGS said. The USGS recorded at least five aftershocks, with the largest one – measured at a magnitude of 3.5 – striking less than a mile from the epicenter, at 9:37 a.m.
Experts say earthquakes of magnitudes 4 to 5 generally bring light shaking and very light to no damage.
The shaking was felt in downtown Los Angeles, according to CNN journalists in the area. Many residents were notified moments before feeling the tremor through USGS’s ShakeAlert system.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said there was no infrastructure damage or injuries after dispatching personnel from over 100 fire stations to conduct a survey by land, air and sea.
The earthquake epicenter was close to the Malibu fault, said seismologist Lucy Jones, a geophysics research associate at the California Institute of Technology.
“The information we have about this does not make a clear association with that fault,” Jones said in an afternoon press conference. “In terms of that region, like everywhere in Southern California, every one of us is within five miles of an active fault.”
“This is a really good reminder that the quiet of the past couple of decades is not the long term picture, and we need to be prepared,” she said.
On average by this time of year, California has felt around eight earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 or higher, according to Jones, but so far in 2024, the state has seen 14.
“I thought it was never going to end. I was getting to think that it was the big one, because we’ve had all these little quakes,” Joanne Gary, who lives in Malibu, told CNN affiliate KABC.
Millions of people throughout the region, including in Malibu, Westlake Village, Agoura, Thousand Oaks and Los Angeles, felt the earthquake.
The-CNN-Wire
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