Traffic moves in downtown Los Angeles after an earthquake struck the Los Angeles area on August 12, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
The 4.4 magnitude quake was felt from the Los Angeles area to San Diego, shaking buildings, rattling dishes and setting off car alarms, but there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.
The U.S. Geological Survey said Monday’s quake was centered near Highland Park, Los Angeles, about 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles City Hall and about 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers) below the surface.
According to the USGS community reporting page, the quake was felt from Greater Los Angeles to San Diego in the south and the Palm Springs desert area in the east. Some reports were recorded from the southern San Joaquin Valley, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.
It shook a medical building, interrupted a live interview on ESPN, and shook the ground in Anaheim, where Disneyland is located in Orange County. Pots shook in the famous LA neighborhood of Laurel Canyon, where many celebrities live, and photos on social media showed shampoo bottles and other items scattered on the floor of a Target store in LA.
TV news helicopters showed water leaking from the upper floor of Pasadena City Hall, an ornate domed structure dating from 1927 that was seismically renovated in the 2000s. Pasadena public information officer Lisa Derderian confirmed the water leak was caused by the quake. She said about 200 employees were evacuated from City Hall and one person was rescued from an elevator.
Derderian said there was no significant damage to Pasadena’s 100-year-old Rose Bowl, but an engineer will conduct a full assessment. There was no immediate assessment of the city’s 1927 Central Library, which was closed for a seismic retrofit pending 2021. “We haven’t been inside to look at it,” he said.
Firefighters from all 106 Los Angeles stations surveyed the 470 square mile (1,217 square kilometer) city and found no significant damage, spokeswoman Margaret Stewart said in a statement.
This earthquake is a reminder of what can happen in a state where a large population lives above active fault lines.
“After living through the Northridge quake (magnitude 6.7 in 1994), today’s quake reminded me of the life-saving rules during an earthquake: drop down, cover and hold on,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “It was also a reminder to all of us that we live in earthquake country and we need to be prepared.” The National Weather Service said a tsunami was not expected, and the USGS lowered its initial estimate for the quake’s magnitude to 4.6.
Richard Egan was having lunch with coworkers on the second floor of an office building near Long Beach Airport, about 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) south of the epicenter, when the jolt suddenly struck.
“It got very quiet, and we waited for a big earthquake to come,” he said. He estimated the quake lasted about 45 seconds, but there were no more jolts. The lunchtime conversation picked up where it left off, said Egan, who has seen many earthquakes during his 59 years in Southern California. He described it as average.
The earthquake struck on the first day of the new school year for 540,000 students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Several schools felt the quake, and at least one high school, John Marshall in Los Feliz, alerted parents that they had evacuated buildings to check for damage, but did not immediately see any damage.
“We have not received any reports of injuries or any significant damage to our facilities,” district Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said in a post on social media.
The quake comes less than a week after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California and was widely felt in Los Angeles. That quake caused no injuries or major damage.