Moderate 4.8 quake off Santa Barbara coast felt far and wide
A moderate 4.8 earthquake off the Santa Barbara coast Wednesday was felt over a wide swath of California, from the Central Coast to Los Angeles County, but no damage was reported.
The temblor struck at 7:38 a.m. about five miles west of UC Santa Barbara.
The Santa Barbara area is home to a number of earthquake faults, the largest of which is the Santa Ynez fault, which is 80 miles long and runs just north of the city. That fault is believed to be capable of triggering an earthquake as powerful as 7.5.
People closest to the epicenter felt moderate shaking, but the only effects reported were the falling of a few photo frames.
The epicenter of Wednesday’s quake was not far from the epicenter of the devastating 1925 earthquake in Santa Barbara. Recorded at a magnitude 6.8, the temblor destroyed much of Santa Barbara’s downtown on State Street, damaged rail lines, caused extensive landslides on bluffs, and was felt as far away as Orange County. It killed 13 people.
Dozens of people from Bakersfield to Manhattan Beach reported feeling the quake on the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did you feel it?” site.
Goleta resident Lisa Green told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that her house “was just rocking back and forth, back and forth.” A few pictures fell off the wall and her medicine cabinet flew open, she said.
“My dogs were going crazy,” she said.
After the shaking subsided, Green said, her neighbors went outside to check on each other.
At the Santa Barbara Inn, guests felt slight shaking.
Officials reported no damage. Michael Dalcerri, captain at Santa Barbara County Fire Station 17 on the UC Santa Barbara campus, said: “We pulled our rigs out, checked the area — campus area, Isla Vista — no damage to report.”
At most, people reported minor annoyances from the quake. “Felt it in Thousand Oaks. Woke me up & me dog growled at it.” @KiraDFoltz tweeted.
“It woke me up!” @ahhhlexx15 said. “But it wasn’t scary if you know earthquakes.”
Last week, Northern California was rattled by a magnitude 5.7 quake that struck about 150 miles northeast of Sacramento. It marked the largest on-land temblor to hit California since 2008, experts said.
Times staff writer Kurt Streeter contributed to this report.
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