No Serious Injuries, Damage From 5.0 Landers Aftershock

A magnitude 5.0 temblor jolted a large area of Southern California on Friday night, knocking merchandise off store shelves and causing at least one minor injury.

The temblor, an aftershock of last year’s powerful Landers earthquake, was felt as far south as San Diego and northwest to Los Angeles.

The quake, which struck at 6:46 p.m., was centered 10 miles southeast of Yucca Valley, said seismologist Phil Maechling of Caltech in Pasadena.

Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies in San Bernardino County said they received no reports of damage, but several stores reported broken bottles and items that had fallen off shelves.

A clerk at the K mart in Yucca Valley sustained minor injuries when she was hit on the head by a decorative cover for a roof sprinkler, “but she went right back to work,” store officials said.

Nearly 50,000 aftershocks have been reported in the area since the June 28, 1992, Landers quake. But Friday’s temblor was one of the largest in magnitude.

“This was a nothing compared to last year’s quake,” said Frank Smith, an assistant manager of a Thrifty drugstore in Yucca Valley. “Nothing fell off the shelves and while the store was crowded, no one panicked.”

San Bernadino County Fire Capt. Wayne MacKenzie in Joshua Tree said “the phones went out for about the first three minutes but that was it. Power stayed on, and in our whole south desert battalion, which covers the Landers quake area, there wasn’t one call of damage nor injury.”

Linda Drott, a dispatcher at the Yucca Valley sheriff’s station, also said no damage or injuries were reported.