6.5-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico

MEXICO CITY June 30  A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck southern Mexico early on Wednesday, shaking buildings in Mexico City, the U.S. Geological Survey and Reuters witnesses reported.The quake’s epicenter was 8 miles (14 km) east of Oaxaca, Mexico, the USGS said. The quake was felt in Mexico City, where some people fled their houses in the city center, a Reuters witness reported..(Reuters)

3.3 earthquake rattles Fontana area

A 3.3 earthquake struck the Fontana area Thursday morning, but there were no reports of damage or injuries.Dozens of residents in Fontana, Rialto, Rancho Cucamonga San Bernardino and surrounding cities told the U.S. Geological Survey they had felt the quake, which struck at 5:14 a.m.

The quake was centered about three miles north of Fontana and four miles west of Rialto (that’s about 46 miles east of downtown Los Angeles).The USGS did not say which fault they believed the quake was linked to.

earthquake estimated at magnitude 5.1 and centered near the California-Mexico

LOS ANGELES, May 18  An earthquake estimated at magnitude 5.1 and centered near the California-Mexico border was felt across a wide area Tuesday, authorities said.The quake apparently an aftershock from the 7.2-magnitude quake that struck Mexicali April 4  hit at 5:38 p.m. PDT, 19 miles southwest of Calexico in Imperial County, the Los Angeles Times reported. The quake was felt in a large area of the border region but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, the newspaper said.

Two people died in Mexicali in the April 4 quake, which also caused substantial property damage — including an estimated $91 million damage in California.The U.S. Geological Survey heard from people in Imperial and San Diego counties who said they felt Tuesday’s quake. People also reported feeling it in Irvine, Long Beach and Los Angeles.(UPI)

5.0 earthquake struck northern California's Napa region on Friday

WASHINGTON, April 30 A magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck northern California’s Napa region on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.The quake hit 7 miles/11 km northeast of Napa at a depth of 3 miles (5 km). The temblor could not be felt in San Francisco, a witness said.(Reuters)

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck northwest Mexico's Baja California state Sunday

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck northwest Mexico’s Baja California state Sunday, rattling Arizona and southern California, and leaving at least two dead and more than 100 injured in Mexico, authorities saidAt least one person was killed in a building collapse in Mexicali, Mexico, according to the assistant director of civil protection in Tijuana.

The other victim died when he ran from his residence into the street and was hit by a car, said Alfredo Escobedo, Baja state’s director of civil protection.

More than 140 people were treated at local hospitals, including five who were in critical condition, said Rigaberto Lasoya, medical coordinator for the state of Baja. Some were being treated outside because there’s no electricity and water at the main hospital, Lasoya said.

All injuries are concentrated in Mexicali, officials said.In California and Arizona, there were no immediate reports of injuries and only limited reports of damages.The quake struck at 3:40 p.m. (6:40 p.m. ET) about 110 miles east-southeast of Tijuana, Mexico, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Pictures from Mexicali, a major metropolitan area and the capital of Mexico’s Baja California state, showed sides ripped off buildings, telephone poles toppled, roads cracked and supermarket aisles strewn with food that had fallen off shelves.

The entire city has lost power, according to Alan Sandoval, Tijuana’s assistant director of civil protection

iReport.com: Water splashes out of San Diego, California,Residents across Southern California and Arizona reported serious ground shakes.”We have not felt a shake like that since about 1979,” Michelle Tapia told CNN from Brawley, California, approximately 23 miles north of the Mexican border.

iReport.com: Pots clang in San Diego, California, homeJoe Madison was shopping at a Wal-Mart in Palm Springs, California, when he felt the earthquake.”I felt the entire store move, and people went running for the exits,” he said.Madison said people gathered outside in the parking lot until the shaking stopped.”We felt it for about 30 seconds. It was rolling,” San Diego County sheriff’s Lt. Scott Ybarrondo told CNN. “Nothing fell off the walls here, but we have reports of pictures falling off walls elsewhere in the county.”

The quake was the largest in the Baja California area since 1992, the USGS reported.iReport.com: Damage in a bookstore in Palm Desert, CaliforniaThe 1992 quake, which struck in Landers, California, triggered an earthquake the next day in Nevada and another quake 11 days later in Southern California, according to USGS seismologist Lucy Jones. Both were 5.7 magnitude quakes.

Jones said Sunday’s quake also could trigger others in the coming days, though she said the relatively quiet hours after Sunday’s quake make other big quakes less likely.There have been three large aftershocks so far, including one that registered a 5.5 magnitude, and other smaller temblors, USGS said.Chandeliers swung and water sloshed around in swimming pools in the Los Angeles suburbs, witnesses reported, while posters to Twitter reported feeling the quake in Phoenix, Arizona.

Capt. Steve Ruda, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city fire department, said there were isolated power outages and a few people reported trapped in elevators, but no injuries or structural damage were reported.Nine minutes after the Mexico quake, a magnitude 4.1 quake rattled windows in Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco. No damage was reported there, and Susan Potter, a USGS geophysicist, told CNN that was a separate quake from the one that struck in the Baja California desert.The USGS initially reported that the Baja California quake had a 6.9 magnitude. The USGS upgraded the quake about an hour later.

6.9 earthquake hit the San Diego area around 3:45pm today

6.9 earthquake hit the San Diego area around 3:45pm today, according to earthquake.usgs.gov. It is unclear what kind of damage was done, if any, but it is the third quake to hit with an epicenter in Baja, California this afternoon. Smaller aftershocks also occurred before and after the bigger jolt.
A 3.3 and 4.3 earthquake happened within a half hour of the biggest quake, and news sources are just starting to break the news about the big quake. Apparently the rattle lasted about 12 seconds, and Twitter was blowing up with people commenting on the rumble.

There were a few minor quakes in the San Francisco Bay Area today as well, but with magnitudes of less than 3.0. According to reports, today’s San Diego jolt occurred (16 miles) SSW of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico. The hypocentral depth was 20 miles, according to Stinque.com.

earthquake sent a sharp jolt across the Los Angeles area Tuesday, but the magnitude 4.4 temblor was barely strong enough to knock items off shelves

earthquake sent a sharp jolt across the Los Angeles area Tuesday, but the magnitude 4.4 temblor was barely strong enough to knock items off shelves. It was, however, sharp enough to frazzle residents, many of whom felt a “strong bang.” The epicenter was 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles in Pico Rivera, and the quake was felt as far away as San Diego and Ventura County. Los Angeles County fire official Ed Pickett, who was in East Los Angeles, said the jolt at 4:04 a.m. felt “like the building dropped.” He described feeling the quake for about “15 seconds at the most.”

But at the epicenter, there appeared to be no major damage. Not a single bottle broke at Walt’s Liquor Store in Pico Rivera, said owner Letti Talamantes.Jose Palomera, who was cleaning a taco stand in Pico Rivera, first thought the shaking was a rolling big rig. “It just felt like a big wave just passing by,” he said. Pico Rivera soon returned to normal. Buses picked up passengers, cars waited in drive-through lines and customers watched the morning news while buying doughnuts and coffee.The quake was weaker than the magnitude 5.4 Chino Hills quake in July 2008 and the 4.7 May 2009 Inglewood quake, which shattered windows and caused minor damage.

Caltech seismologist Egill Hauksson said Tuesday’s quake appears to have occurred along the 25-mile-long Puente Hills thrust fault, which runs from the Puente Hills near Whittier northwest through downtown Los Angeles, ending in Beverly Hills. The quake was triggered when one side of the fault slid over the other, causing shaking.The Puente Hills thrust fault is the same one that triggered the magnitude 5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987 that killed eight people and caused $358 million in damage. Tuesday’s quake produced about 500 times less energy than the 1987 temblor.

The Puente Hills thrust is a slow-moving fault and is less likely to have major earthquakes than, say, the San Andreas fault. But major temblors can happen on slow-moving faults, Hauksson said, which is what happened in the 7.9 quake that struck China in 2008, killing about 70,000 people.Earthquakes with a magnitude of 4 are quite common in Southern California, occurring every month or two, said Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton.The last magnitude 4 quake occurred Saturday in northern San Diego County.Tuesday’s quake was a reminder of the tectonic forces that have been shaping the region for 3 million to 4 million years. The quakes are triggered as the Pacific plate moves northwest, shifting against the North American plate.