Local News in Brief : Tiny Quake Downtown

A small earthquake whose epicenter was just a mile south of Los Angeles City Hall jolted downtown office workers Thursday, and scientists said the temblor may be related to an unnamed fault far below the city.

The 10:23 a.m. quake, measuring 2.6 on the Richter scale, caused no damage or injuries.

Lucille Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said earthquakes with epicenters downtown are infrequent--perhaps one per year--”but what is really remarkable about this quake was that people felt it at all. It was just very, very small.”

Thomas L. Davis, who is studying the Whittier Narrows fault that caused last October’s major quake, said he suspects “there’s a fault deep under (the downtown) area that doesn’t come anywhere near the surface.”