Magnitude 4.4 earthquake with epicenter near Highland Park shakes Southern California – Pasadena Star News
An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 4.4 with its epicenter near Highland Park struck Southern California on Monday afternoon, August 12.
The United States Geological Survey classified the quake, which struck shortly after noon, as “strong” and acknowledged that minor damage was possible. Some of the strongest tremors occurred near East Los Angeles.
People in Rancho Cucamonga, Newport Beach and Victorville also reported feeling the quake. In some places it lasted only a few seconds. In the Pasadena area there were rapid, successive, violent shocks.
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According to experts, it was not yet clear which fault caused the quake. One suspected case: the Puente Hills thrust system.
“It was felt far and wide,” said Susan Hough, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena.
The USGS received about 20,000 reports from people who felt the earthquake, she said during an online press conference on Monday afternoon.
She estimated that the quake was strong enough to knock objects off a shelf.
In Pasadena, a water pipe burst in front of the city hall and triggered an alarm, said city spokeswoman Lisa Derderian. Employees then evacuated the building.
The water was turned off after about 45 minutes, she said.
An employee got stuck in an elevator and was rescued by the fire department.
According to Pasadena Police Lt. Matt Campeau, the police station shook and the department followed its normal protocol, including pulling police cars out of the parking garage and checking the building.
The quake appears to be a shallow-dipping fault, like the Whittier Narrows M5.9 of 1987. Imaging shows us several faults stacked on top of each other, none of which come to the surface. The Puente Hills Thrust and the Elysian Park Thrust are names given to this stack.
—Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) 12 August 2024
The earthquake rattled nerves in the office building on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena that houses WeWork. Tenants briefly evacuated their offices.
“It felt like a big accident,” said Mimi Chacon, who was on the third floor with colleagues. “It felt like a car had crashed into the building. …
“You feel like you should be used to it, but I’m not,” Chacon said.
“We felt it here at headquarters,” said Captain Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department. “It shook everyone.”
“When an earthquake occurs in LA, firefighters at all 106 fire stations in the area ensure a complete and strategic survey of the area,” Scott said.
Firefighters are leaving their quarters and checking power lines, highway overpasses, homes and stadiums, he added.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tweeted that the Los Angeles Fire Department found no damage in the city.
This was another in a series of moderate earthquakes that have struck Southern California recently.
Just five days earlier, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake occurred with an epicenter near Lamont; there was an aftershock of magnitude 4.4. On July 29, there was a magnitude 4.9 earthquake with an epicenter near Barstow.
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