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Earthquakes Strike LA; No Tsunami Threat

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Today's earthquake struck just outside of Los Angles, California but was widely felt throughout the LA metro. Image: USGS
Today’s earthquake struck just outside of Los Angles, California but was widely felt throughout the LA metro. Image: USGS





A moderate 4.0 earthquake struck the Los Angeles, California metro region this morning; fortunately, scientists say there is no tsunami threat to the U.S. West Coast or to Hawaii from this LA quake. It was one of three earthquakes to strike the area today.

More than 6,000 people reported to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) that they felt the quake around southern California, with most reports coming from the city of Los Angeles. The earthquake was felt as far south as San Diego and as far north as Lancaster.

The earthquake, which struck at 11:44 UTC, struck at a depth of about 12 miles at  33.941°N,  118.333°W. Specifically, the epicenter was 10 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles and 100 miles southwest of Barstow.



Thousands of people reported feeling the earthquake to the USGS today. Image: USGS
Thousands of people reported feeling the earthquake to the USGS today. Image: USGS

The National Weather Service’s Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska issued a brief statement saying: “There is NO tsunami danger from this earthquake.” They added they won’t issue any other messages about this seismic event unless additional information becomes available.

While many earthquake and volcano events have made headlines recently, scientists say they are unrelated. Unrest at the Cleveland Volcano in Alaska, a fresh volcanic eruption in Iceland,  earthquakes around the world’s largest volcano at Mauna Loa, and a series of strong earthquakes in the central Atlantic Ocean have captured headlines in the last several days. According to USGS, this global activity is normal for now.

An average of 5 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3-4 occur each year in the greater Los Angeles area, according to a 3-year data sample from USGS. In the last 10 days, though, there have been 3 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered in the region.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said LAFD conducted its routine survey of the city and reported no damage.  On social media, some near the epicenter did report losing their power though.