Damage Minor as 4.0 Quake Shakes Up Orange County

A moderate earthquake gave Orange County a sharp kick Thursday, driving students andteachers from their classrooms, shattering some windows and tossing ceramics from shelves at a crafts exhibit.

The 10:21 a.m. quake, which measured magnitude 4.0, caused no injuries and only minordamage. The epicenter was near the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, according toseismologists at Caltech. Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Santa Ana felt the quake most strongly, although residents from South Orange County to Long Beach also reported feeling the shaking.

“It hit like a solid punch,” said John Farmer, chief of campus security at Orange Coast College, near the quake’s epicenter. “The ground started to roll a little so you knew it was coming, then it was a big jolt and the building shook for a while.”

About 150 students and staff members were evacuated from the four-story library at the college, but they were allowed back in shortly after inspectors determined it was undamaged.

Hospitals had no reports of injuries, and police and fire officials said they received only a few calls from residents.

State Department of Transportation officials said work crews found no damage to roads, bridges or overpasses.

Students and office workers “ducked and covered” when the earth began to move. Dawn Holst of New York City was participating in a computer software conference at the Marriott Hotel in Fashion Island when she felt the jolt.

“Well, I thought it was a subway going underneath me, and then I realized I wasn’t in New York,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh, my God, it’s an earthquake.’ ”

Roy Marquez was washing windows at an automobile dealership in Costa Mesa when the quake shattered three large windows and cracked a fourth.

“I was just starting on the third one when it hit,” said Marquez, 26. “I thought I had broke it.”

When the quake hit, storekeepers and others at South Coast Plaza kept their eyes on a Rolls-Royce precariously balanced on four china teacups--part of an exhibit for a British cultural festival being held at the mall. The car did not budge.

But artisans at a British crafts exhibit at the mall did not fare as well. Expensive glassware, delicate ceramic works and pottery were knocked to the floor. Damage will probably top several thousand dollars.

The quake occurred in the Newport-Inglewood fault zone. The largest fault in the zone stretches from Beverly Hills to Newport Beach and then veers offshore. It is believed capable of a 6.5 quake, causing heavy damage. The last significant temblor occurred April 7, 1989, when a 4.6-magnitude quake centered in Newport Beach caused widespread but minor damage.

An unrelated magnitude 2.4 temblor struck the Silver Lake District of Los Angeles at 8:52 p.m. Thursday. There were no damage or injury reports.