Earthquake: 4.0 quake strikes near Big Bear Lake
A shallow magnitude 4.0 earthquake seven miles from Big Bear Lake startled residents Wednesday morning but appeared to cause little damage.
The temblor occurred at 9:10 a.m. PDT at a depth of 6.8 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was downgraded from 4.5 to 4.0 just before 10 a.m.
According to the USGS, the epicenter was eight miles from Big Bear City, 12 miles from Yucaipa and 14 miles from Banning.
In the last 10 days, there has been one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department station in Big Bear did not receive any reports of damage, authorities said.
Sheriff’s Department officials said the earthquake felt like a “strong jolt” and was startling.
USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said she was attending the Southern California Earthquake Center’s annual meeting in Palm Springs when felt the quake.
She said the temblor was near the San Andreas fault but that preliminary information “shows oblique normal faulting, not [San Andreas fault] type.”
Seismologist Julian Lozos, who was also at the meeting, tweeted, “Of course #SCEC2015 get a San Andreas quake while we’re talking about Nepal.”
“The beta test of the [USGS’] early warning system definitely caught the 4.5 before it got to us here at the SCEC meeting,” he said.
For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA
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