3.5-Magnitude Quake Is Barely Noticed
A “smallish” earthquake sent a swift shudder through the South Bay Wednesday, but aside from a displaced picture frame or two, no damage was reported.
Officials at Caltech said the 3.5-magnitude quake hit at 3:27 p.m. and was centered three miles west-southwest of Compton. But for many in the temblor’s path, the earth moved undetected.
“I heard a creak go through the building, but I wasn’t sure,” said Joe Arce at Pier Surf in Hermosa Beach. “I go to the guys, ‘Feel that?’ But they said, ‘Feel what?’ Nobody felt it but me.”
In Lomita, a watch commander at the sheriff’s substation said he thought what he felt was someone slamming a door. In Torrance City Hall, where it shifted pictures out of alignment on one wall, city staffers called it “a good little shake.”
But in Gardena, nearer the epicenter, the jolt was heavier.
“I jumped right into the middle of the doorway,” Gardena Police Lt. Gary Cherry said. “People were walking around flashing four fingers” to indicate they thought the quake’s magnitude was 4.0.
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