A small earthquake hit Los Angeles on Sunday evening, with its epicenter located more than 5,000 feet southwest of the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood, which is just north of Inglewood. Measuring at a magnitude of 3.5, the earthquake caused some residents to panic, although no damage or injuries were initially reported.
The earthquake struck at 9:17 p.m. at around 33,000 feet in depth, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Dr. Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, said the tremor was located near the fault of Newport-Inglewood. Moreover, the location was not far from an earlier earthquake that had occurred at 4:35 p.m. that carried a magnitude of 2.5.
Residents from the Hollywood, San Fernando Valley and Westside areas reported that they felt the earthquake.
L.A. Fire Department Chief Terrazas quickly turned on the department's "earthquake mode." When in "earthquake mode," the department has to dispatch firefighters from all 106 fire stations . The goal, which the department posted on its Facebook page in early April, is to deliver a thorough and strategic survey that covers more than 470 square miles around the greater L.A. area.
The quake was a trending topic on Twitter as a number of users tweeted that their homes shuddered. However, there are also those who said they didn't feel the tremor. Some of them responded to a tweet from KTLA5 News in Los Angeles.
"3.5-magnitude quake near Baldwin Hills had a "foreshock" hours earlier. Did you feel either?" tweeted KTLA5 (@KTLA).
"@KTLA I sure did. I'm Located near the Beverly Center. Had some glasses fall out my cabinets. Otherwise all is good. Some r reporting it was 3.5," tweeted Danielle Krant (@90210Realtor).
"@mester_mark Very sharp jolt and shake in Marina del Rey. Hit same area as the 2,5 earlier. 5 miles from the epicenter. No damage," tweeted Robert Grant (@RobtGrant).
"@KTLA Near SM Blvd & Federal. The 3.5 felt like 2 strong bumps with the rumble. I feel a quick bump this morn too," tweeted Joe Spiegel (@joe221).
Speculations are that the quakes were caused by oil drilling in the Baldwin Hills area. However, Jones said that the quake had hit an area that is "way below the oil fields."
"The focal mechanism matches the Newport-Inglewood fault which was producing EQs long before we were pumping oil," said Jones in a tweet.
Jones also noted that more than 4,000 people have participated in filling out the USGS report dubbed as "Did You Feel It" on the Baldwin Hills EQ.
Photo: daytrip2007 I Flickr
