Aftershock Hits City; No Damage Reported

A small aftershock that reminded Simi Valley residents they live in earthquake country shook buildings and rattled nerves Monday, but caused no damage or injuries.

The magnitude 2.9 quake rumbled through town at 8:55 a.m., said Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton. She gauged the epicenter of the quake, an aftershock of the Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake, about three miles northeast of Simi Valley.

“It was just enough to feel, but not enough to be alarming,” said Sgt. Arch Morgan of the Simi Valley Police Department. “We got a few telephone calls, and that’s it. No damage, no injuries.”

Jack Cross, owner of the Curio Cabinet on Cochran Street, said his shop, which is filled with delicate crystal and china, escaped unscathed.

“You could feel a little movement, but nothing broke or even shifted,” he said. “I had a customer in here, and we just looked at each other and said, ‘Yes, that was a little earthquake.’ ”

Area residents can expect to feel aftershocks of the Northridge earthquake for a few more years, Hutton said.

“Aftershocks become less frequent with time,” she said. “They are sort of like the earth adjusting to the strain created by the shifting in the earth.”