Quake aftermath: Still no reports of damage, injuries

Southern California came out unscathed but a bit shook-up this morning in the aftermath of Thursday night's magnitude 4.5 earthquake in San Bernardino. No injuries or damage were reported, authorities said.

The 7:50 p.m. quake was centered nearly 10 miles below the San Bernardino area, said Miriam Varela, a community service officer with the San Bernardino Police Department. The tremors were felt from the Inland Empire to downtown Los Angeles, as well as in parts of the High Desert, San Pedro and Orange and Ventura counties.

“It felt stronger than it really was,” Varela said. “The doors swung open after they’d already been closed, and there was a lot of shaking. We all felt it and thought it was going to be a 5-point-something. But it wasn’t.”

San Bernardino police have been looking for damage while on their patrols, she said. Reports have the quake lasting anywhere from five to 15 seconds.

“There was really no damages or injuries anywhere in the city that we’ve found,” Varela said.

No damage or injuries were reported in Ontario either, said Sgt. David McBride, a spokesman for the Ontario Police Department. McBride, like Varela and her colleagues, said he guessed the quake was “bigger” than it was.

“I just heard a loud rumbling followed by a few seconds of shaking, and I thought it was going to be bigger than it was,” McBride said. “I was thinking somewhere between a 5.0 and a 6.0 magnitude, so I was a bit surprised to hear it was in the 4's.”

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Southern California Earthquake Center originally thought the quake measured 5.0, but officials later downgraded the magnitude to 4.5.

San Bernardino sits between the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults -– two of the state’s most active fault lines for earthquakes. Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton said there has been a small increase in seismic activity in California, but it was unclear why.

“We know earthquakes do tend to clump together in regions. We don't understand why that happens,” Hutton said.

Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said Thursday night’s quake may be a return to the earthquake patterns of the '80s.

"It looks more like we're returning to a more normal rate,” Jones said. “The last 15 years was one of the quietest times we've had in terms of [magnitude] 3, 4's and 5's."

Want to share your experience in the earthquake? Go to the Times' quake report board to leave your comments. Or visit the USGS site for the official quake report and map of the shake zone.

--Nathan Olivarez-Giles, Jia-Rui Chong and Monte Morin

Photo: A California resident shows the proper way to duck and cover. Credit: Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[RCTucker]

I am surprised it was only a 4.5. It felt bigger!! It looks as if Quakefinder saw this quake coming before it happened too. They had positive results from the Alum Rock '07 quake and it looks as if there is some exciting data to be looked at from this one. Maybe we are getting closer to the day when we can have an Earthquake warning system much the same as we have Hurricane Trackers. Check out their data and maps at www.quakefinder.com. I am anxious to see positive results from their research and data gathering!

[alice]

in los angeles felt strong to my whole house was shaking abot 16 seconds