5.3 quake in Channel Islands shakes O.C.

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake recorded in the Channel Islands caused shaking and rolling in Orange County on Thursday afternoon.

The temblor hit just before 12:30 p.m. and was centered 17 miles southwest of Santa Cruz Island, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of significant injuries or damage.

The quake was the strongest in Southern California in several years.

The Los Angeles area feels an earthquake of this magnitude an average of about once a year, said John Vidale, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center at USC.

There is a one in 20 chance that Thursday’s quake will lead to a larger one in the next few weeks, Vidale said. But more likely, smaller aftershocks will follow that may not even be felt, he said.

The quake was too small and far from the coast to trigger any tsunami concerns.

“It would never make a wave that you could see,” Vidale said.

But it was large enough to active the state’s developing earthquake early-warning system.

Vidale said he and colleagues at USC heard beeping 10 to 15 seconds before the quake’s shaking reached the campus.

The earthquake early-warning system is under development by USGS and is available to a limited array of testers. More people are expected to be eligible to test the system later this year.

One person said on Twitter that the warning gave more than a half-minute to prepare.

“I had 34 seconds warning — enough time to drop, cover and hold on, which I would have done if I knew shaking was going to be strong,” Alissa Walker wrote.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

2:15 p.m.: This article was updated with John Vidale’s comments and additional details.

This article was originally published at 12:55 p.m.