‘It scared us a bit’: Magnitude 4.0 earthquake hits near Santa Paula
A magnitude 4.0 earthquake rattled Southern California on Saturday evening, with shaking felt from Burbank to the Westside in Los Angeles.
The quake occurred at 5:44 p.m., four miles northwest of Santa Paula in Ventura County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Exactly three hours later — at 8:44 p.m. — a 3.1 aftershock was reported in the same area.
The temblor, which took place at a depth of 16.1 miles, rattled apartment building windows and shook furniture in Torrance for a brief moment before quickly ceasing.
Nicole Garner, who felt the quake in Playa Vista, told The Times it felt like “a quick jolt.”
“It startled me,” Garner said.
Keri Roth, a Ventura teacher, said she and her husband were giving their dog intravenous fluids when a sliding glass door at their home began shaking.
“We looked over and saw the water in the aquarium sloshing around and realized it was an earthquake,” she told The Times on Saturday evening. “But after the initial shake, it shook and rolled harder, and it scared us a bit. We were happy the aquarium didn’t fall over.”
Reports from across L.A. on social media indicated that those who felt the quake considered the effects to be minor.
Other social media users across L.A. said they did not feel the quake.
No tsunami warning was issued after the quake, the National Weather Service said Saturday evening. Operations and flights were not affected at Los Angeles International Airport, according to a social media post.
An average of 25 earthquakes with magnitudes between 4.0 and 5.0 occur per year in California and Nevada, according to a recent three-year data sample.
Consider reporting what you felt to the USGS.
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