5 Quakes, Reaching 4.4, Stir Fontana

Five mild to moderate earthquakes near Fontana shook homes and businesses Thursday morning but caused little damage except for some broken dishes and merchandise spilled from store shelves.

The quakes, described by seismologists as a “swarm,” began at 4:11 a.m. and continued for more than two hours, with the most powerful, a magnitude 4.4, striking at 6:35 a.m., according to the Caltech Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena.

Unlike the powerful 1994 Northridge earthquake, which was followed by several smaller aftershocks, a swarm is a series of quakes that build in intensity before diminishing over several days.

“You should feel a few more small quakes in the next few days,” said Kate Hutton, staff seismologist with the Caltech lab.

The lab reported that the 4.4 quake was felt as far west as Los Angeles and as far east as Palm Springs.

Hutton said seismologists had yet to identify the fault responsible for the quakes, but they had ruled out the Cucamonga and San Jacinto faults.

The quakes started with a magnitude 3.6, originating two miles northwest of Fontana. A few seconds later, a second quake, also measuring 3.6, struck one mile north of the city. At 6:22 a.m., the third quake, measuring 3.3, also struck one mile north. Thirteen minutes later, the biggest quake, at 4.4, struck two miles north. The last, at 2.8, struck at 6:37 a.m., one mile southwest.

Fire officials in San Bernardino and Riverside counties reported no significant damage or injuries but merchants and residents said the temblors gave them a scare.

Gathering at a 99 Cents Only Store on Sierra Avenue to buy batteries and flashlights, Fontana neighbors Tricia Cramer-Nunez and Debi Weber said their children were unnerved and a few household items fell during the escalating quakes.

“It was like someone took the house in their hands and shook it,” Cramer-Nunez said. “The volume, the noise of it with the windows rattling, was what scared me.”

Weber said the strongest quake jolted each of her five children awake, making her 7-year-old daughter cry and crawl into her mother’s bed.

“We were rocking and rolling pretty good,” Weber said. “My neighbor called me, very upset, because her lamp fell. She was scared, but she’s from New Jersey and not used to this.”

Cramer-Nunez said the quakes were a reminder to stockpile her home with emergency supplies and learn how to shut off her home’s natural gas line.

In nearby Rialto, Rur Singh, owner of Carter’s Jr. Market and Liquor, said he was in the store when the strongest quake struck, shattering bottles of tequila and gin when they hit the floor, along with laundry detergent and other items.

Singh said he was behind the counter when the shaking started and started to run outside.

“I didn’t even get to the front door before it stopped,” he said with a laugh.

Singh lived in Los Angeles when the Northridge quake struck. “I did the same thing then,” he added. “I ran.”