Community Corner
4.4 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Southern California
A 4.4 magnitude quake epicentered near La Verne rattled Southern California and was quickly followed by aftershocks.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook Southern California Tuesday evening, and it was immediately followed by a series of smaller ones. The quake was epicentered just north of La Verne, according to the US Geological Survey.
The temblor was a sharp, jolting quake that could be felt across the San Gabriel Valley, Los Angeles, Northern Orange County and Riverside.
The quake struck at 7:33 p.m. and was immediately followed by two notable aftershocks and more than a dozen smaller quakes. A 3.4 magnitude aftershock struck at 7:34 and a 2.4 magnitude quake followed at 7:36 p.m. The initial quake was about 3.7 miles deep, according to the USGS.
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The quakes were epicentered about three miles north of La Verne. No damage was immediately reported. According to early data from the, Caltech Seismological Laboratory, the aftershocks both struck two miles north of La Verne.
Seismologist Lucy Jones said the quake should not be expected to have done damage to structures.
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Jones said the quake, felt as far away as Bakersfield and Oceanside, was not on the Sierra Madre fault, one of the largest in the region, but on an ancillary structure.
The earthquake was the largest in Southern California since Dec. 29, 2015, when a magnitude-4.3 quake struck near Devore, in San Bernardino County, Jones said.
A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in La Habra on March 28, 2014.
"This is a very ordinary earthquake for California, the size that we have several times a year somewhere in the state," Jones said.
More than a dozen small aftershocks were felt and as is always the case, there was about a 5 percent the largest magnitude-4.4 earthquake would be followed by a bigger one, Jones said.
La Verne Vickie Carillo resident lives just a couple miles of the quake.
“It was like if somebody had grabbed it and was shaking the house,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
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City News Service contributed to this report.
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