3.4 earthquake strikes near Carson

A small earthquake that shook Southern California residents early Thursday has been downgraded from 3.6 to 3.4 magnitude.

The temblor was centered in Carson but was felt from Long Beach to Playa Vista to downtown, where Metro officials said train service would be slightly delayed while crews inspected tracks for damage. Full service was resumed about 7:35 a.m. with no damage reported.

The quake was downgraded at about 8 a.m.

Los Angeles firefighters were briefly in “earthquake mode,” said Erik Scott, a department spokesman.

Crews from all 106 neighborhood fire stations went out and surveyed the city’s 470-square miles to check for damage.

“It’s a rapid process. They will leave quarters and examine all major areas of concern,” he said.

Crews checked major transportation hubs and places where large groups gather, like Dodger Stadium and universities, he said.

“We’ll check from the ground, air and sea if need be,” he said. “Fortunately this is a small quake and we don’t have any significant damage that’s been reported.”

The survey was completed in less than an hour and no damage was found, he said.

The epicenter was about 7-1/2 miles deep and 2 miles from Carson, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

According to the USGS, the epicenter was 3 miles from Compton, 3 miles from West Carson and 4 miles from Gardena.

A sampling of social media comments:

In the last 10 days, there have been no earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.

This information comes from the USGS Earthquake Notification Service and this post was created by an algorithm written by the author.

Read more about Southern California earthquakes.

UPDATE

8:07 a.m.: This post has been updated to reflect that the quake magnitude was downgraded for a second time.