A preliminary 4.4-magnitude earthquake struck about 2.5 miles south of the Los Angeles neighborhood of Highland Park Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was reported at about 12:20 p.m. and felt throughout L.A. County in areas including Pasadena and Studio City. USGS initially reported the earthquake as a 4.6-magnitude temblor, later updating it to a 4.4 magnitude. There was another quake in the area in June, which had its epicenter in South Pasadena and was felt in areas such as Los Feliz and Long Beach.
LA goes into earthquake mode
The Los Angeles Fire Department is sending crews to check for potential damage to buildings. All 106 LAFD fire stations take part in the damage inspections performed as the city goes into earthquake mode.
At about 1 p.m., LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said the department was nearly done with those inspections, which also involve air and marine efforts, and no damage had been reported so far. She said she felt the quake at the LAFD headquarters.
“We felt it immediately,” Stewart said.
LA Metro said earlier it was slowing down trains so that the tracks across the countywide transit system can be checked for damage but later said it was resuming regular service as no damage was found.
South Pasadena Police Chief Brian Solinsky said around 1:10 p.m. that there had been no reports of injuries or damage. But he said the intensity of the shaking could have left some slight damage, explaining that the retrofitting of buildings may be partially why the city’s infrastructure held up so well.
“This one easily could have broken some windows,” Solinsky said.
Seismologists at The California Institute of Technology, Caltech, said they felt shaking at the Pasadena campus.
Last week, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake near Bakersfield rattled the Southern California region, with shaking felt throughout parts of Kern, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.
In the following two days, there were more than 400 tremors within 10 miles of the quake’s epicenter, which USC seismologist John Vidale said could all be considered aftershocks since that area doesn’t usually have much seismic activity.
What fault was the earthquake on?
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said there have been other earthquakes on the same fault as Monday’s quake.
“This area has a network of varied faults, so it’s not something that shows up on the same surface,” Jones said. “The same network was involved in the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake, but exactly whether it’s the same strand, because it’s complicated and at depth, we’ll never be able to say. But it is the same system as the Whittier Narrows.”
That earthquake struck the southern San Gabriel Valley in 1987 and resulted in 200 injuries and at least three deaths.
Caltech seismologists also said the quake was along the Elysian Park Fault.
Check back for updates to this developing story.