Magnitude-5.9 quake strikes Southern California

[derby378]

Source: Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- An earthquake has been felt in the Los Angeles area.

The magnitude-5.9 quake was centered 28 miles south of Palm Springs, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It struck at 4:53 p.m.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-07-07-20-02-52

[sce56]

1. 5.9 earthquake hits Southern California

Source: LA Times

A 5.9 earthquake rocked Southern California this afternoon and was felt across a wide area.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake hit at 4:53 p.m. near Borrego Springs, about 28 miles south of Palm Springs. It was followed by several small aftershocks.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, but some residents said the quake caused glass to break.

The temblor is the latest in a string of powerful quakes to hit Southern California in the last few months, ever since a 7.2 quake struck the Mexicali area on Easter Sunday.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/59-earthquake-hits-southern-california.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29

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I did not feel it but the Golden State has been doing a lot of shaking lately!

[YvonneCa]

4. I live in that big red square. I felt it. It shook...

...quite a lot. 13 miles from Borrego Springs. Now being down-graded by USGS to 5.4.

[sce56]

8. Those major quakes have been moving north since the big one in April!

About two weeks ago a swarm was felt south of the most recent one and the map had come down from almost 2000 events to just under 900 yesterday. Now since the 5.9 it has started to jump up again notice the gif is updating every time you refresh. I wish there was some where to see the average number of quakes on the map for any given week!

[JuniperLea]

12. Hey! You are the only person I've ever heard check that site with as much detail as I do!

Cool... on my favorites bar... I check it at least once a day. I've lived in So Cal all my life... still not used to this, but feel better about it when I keep tabs on that site.

I got worried when the talking heads were saying the high EQ count wasn't unusual... that's not what my lying eyes tell me.

[sce56]

22. Well I like to stay informed as to what is going on and that map works great

Have you ever seen this road cut across the San Andreas?


You might also have noticed I was a few seconds late getting my first posted and mine was moved to this thread!

[JuniperLea]

24. That's a great picture!

I'm about to go travel through 21 miles of LA freeway... with those dangerously neglected overpasses, bridges, etc... ugh.

I like to stay informed too. It makes me feel a little better about all the swaying:) I am also a fan of finding patterns, so your note about the number of quakes rising and falling is right up my alley!

Well, here goes... first there are the three elevators spanning 39, then 5 stories in the building... and six in the parking structure. It's a 10 minute trek from my desk to my car... wish me luck!

:hi:

[sce56]

25. Buena Suerte!

[gauguin57]

10. USGS has downgraded it to a 5.4, according to L.A. Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/59-earthquake-hits-southern-california.html

[sce56]

35. When I posted this map with in ten minutes of the event it showed only 930 quakes!

and thirty were from after the quake!

[msongs]

2. didnt feel it in Riverside, hmm or any aftershocks so far nt

[jemsan]

5. Felt it in north county...

San Marcos. Stuff sure rattled in my house for quite a while. Can't wait for the aftershocks.

[flyarm]

3. DIL just texted me she didn't feel it driving in LA but my son felt it big in his LA office..

stay safe LA and SOCAL..

fly

[JuniperLea]

13. Whereabouts in LA is your son?

I'm Downtown... 39th floor... we've been "surfing" up here...

[flyarm]

26. He is downtown as well!! Stay safe!! ..we lost our home in the Northridge quake

so I know how bad it can be and 5.9 is big!

Stay safe,waiting to hear from kids right now..grandma gets nervous!!

[JuniperLea]

28. Best to you and yours!

I'm sure everyone is fine... we all just need to get home tonight and hunker down. I hope he doesn't have to drive too far.

The Northridge quake was horrid! I'm so sorry you lost your home... :hug:

[lazarus]

6. felt it in San Diego

was as powerful (almost) as the Easter quake, just very short.

[Kind of Blue]

7. Felt it big time in Fallbrook. Just scary!

The sound was what scared me more.

[blaze]

9. Sound?

I've not heard a reference to sound before!

What did it sound like?

I don't think I could handle living in earthquake country!!!

[Kind of Blue]

17. It sounded almost like a sonic boom as

it built up. Only heard that once before in life and that's what had me peeing in my pants :rofl:

[blaze]

Yikes!!!

Hope everything has settled down now!!

Thanks for the description!

[gateley]

14. The sound of a quake in Palm Springs woke me up once, a couple of seconds

before the shaking began. I've been in quakes where my building creaked, but the one in PS was like a deep rumble, like thunder. Woke me up, I thought "what's that?" then it hit. What kind of sound did you hear?

[Kind of Blue]

19. it was definitely like a long boom, a roaring.

I'm close to Camp Pendleton and it was louder than during their ammunition games.

[gateley]

23. Did you hear it before the shaking started, or was it going on during the

entire quake?

I know that the "warning sound" was more frightening to me than the quake. Maybe because I had that split second of not knowing what was going on? There's no warning with a quake and I've been though so many I don't have that initial moment of disorientation any more, I know immediately. THEN I just worry about the quake! (If that makes sense.)

[Kind of Blue]

29. strong tremor did start first - no big deal

then within seconds, the sound accompanied by real shaking. It's funny, my husband always hears the quake, which I thought was strange until today. But he called me and felt it in the car - luckily he was at a red light but thought the car behind him had struck him.

This is long overdue but this quake has got us making preparedness plans. Listening to the news and viewers calling in saying they've been here 85, 55, 30 years and this is the worst they've ever felt. Yikes!

[gateley]

37. Really? A 5.4 is the worst they've ever felt?

It's interesting how different they can be. The largest I've been in (6.9) was actually the most 'gentle' and lasted a really long time. Whereas the shorter, jolty ones get my heart going faster and poised to make a dash for it if I have to.

Every time I feel or hear about one is when I start *thinking* about making preparedness plans, then I never do. :7

It's been a while since we had a sizable one up here (Seattle) and some are wondering if they have been 'making their way up', so now may be the time to actually act on my good intentions -- and you do the same! :hi:

[JuniperLea]

11. And it was a duzy! My crystal desk "plumb bob" hasn't stopped swinging!

I'm on the 39th floor of the second tallest building in Downtown Los Angeles... what a ride! The map is showing many, many aftershocks already, 2 of which were over 3.0.

I have the USGS website on my "favorites bar" and I check it daily. I grew up here, but I'll never, ever get used to this.

Hope all y'all are alright out there! I'm taking a couple of days off... and that means no posting on DU... I'll be at the beach where there are NO TALL BUILDINGS!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Hugs,

between Mexico City and San Diego, lived in quake country all my life.

I do miss my house in Mexico City... truly. Built on rock, and damn solid. THe apartment, on the other hand... on sandy terrain.

[JuniperLea]

16. Thanks, friend...

I have always lived on sand... the liquefaction is scary as hell. Being on the 39th floor is worse, I have to say.

[Hawkeye-X]

18. Hi nadin!

Anything I should go see in Matzlan and Cabo San Lucas? We're going to do a guided walking tour on both cities in Auguest.

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Not my towns actually

Mexico City is like 1000 miles from them.

Enjoy the tours.

[donco6]

21. If you're going to Cabo - San Jose Del Cabo is more interesting.

They have a great art walk once per week. I think it's a more authentic little city overall.

You could take the city bus to Todos Santos, which is very cool.

But Cabo San Lucas itself has been pretty much converted into a pure tourist town. A Senor Frogs on every corner. Kinda sad.

(Just my two cents, PMFBI)

[dhill926]

27. I totally concur........

and if you have time to check out La Paz, try that as well.

[donco6]

30. I heard the drive there is quite beautiful.

Up over some mountains and then to the sea. My friends rented a car and did that one day. I'm too nervous about renting a car - my Spanish is pathetic at best and if something happened, I'd be in real trouble. But I've taken the buses everywhere. They're old and un-AC, but they get you there for next to nothing. And it's kinda fun.

I love Mexico.

[dhill926]

33. stunning.........

and really not too bad of a drive. Good rental car companies in San Jose.

[sce56]

36. I plan on doing it in the future but I'll take the Green Route! On the wind

With Liberty


If I don't upgrade before then!

[sce56]

31. Now I knew something big was coming when I saw Doc Brown yesterday maybe this was it!

Seen just before he got onto US 101 South to LA

Love that license plate.

[Lorien]

32. Well of course he was in town

don't you remember this scene from the movie?

[sce56]

34. I'll have to look it up in my dvd's of the trilogy once I get a chance but in BTFII he went to 2015!

But that scene was filmed at the Mall in Pomona not Fry's in Oxnard!

on edit I found it here http://agentfenris.tumblr.com/post/774282925/forward-to-the-future-hypnotique

[sce56]

38. The moderate 5.4 magnitude earthquake was probably triggered by the temblor that hit Easter Sunday

The moderate 5.4 magnitude earthquake that rolled through Southern California on Wednesday was probably triggered by the Mexicali temblor that hit Easter Sunday, seismologists said. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake-20100708,0,2407319.story


Earthquake scientists' preliminary analysis had already shown that the 7.2 magnitude Baja California quake placed more pressure on at least two fault zones in Southern California — the Elsinore and the San Jacinto. Wednesday's earthquake, which caused no major damage, appeared to confirm that analysis. It struck on the San Jacinto fault zone, which runs roughly from the Salton Sea area northwest through the San Jacinto Mountains toward San Bernardino. "We've been calling those 'triggered earthquakes,' " Caltech seismologist Kate Hutton said, referring to temblors north of the aftershock zone that runs from the Gulf of California to Ocotillo, Calif., near the Mexican border. "We've been able to see an increase in activity," Hutton said. Wednesday's earthquake was the largest to hit the Elsinore and San Jacinto fault zones since the April 4 shaker. Large earthquakes can continue causing aftershocks and triggered earthquakes for many years, Hutton said, but they will become gradually less frequent. When the 7.3 magnitude Landers earthquake hit in 1992, the Mojave Desert area continued having aftershocks 15 years later, Hutton said.

The most significant reports of damage Wednesday were food falling off store shelves in Borrego Springs, near the border of Riverside and San Diego counties, and some other communities, as well as a small rock slide near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. The tramway was not damaged. The lack of damage was unsurprising — the epicenter was in a remote area, and nearby communities don't have any high-rises or old brick buildings, Hutton said.

But the quake was large enough to rattle nerves. The quake hit at 4:53 p.m. about 28 miles south of Palm Springs, but was felt all the way to Nevada and Arizona, and as far north as Fresno. High-rises swayed in Los Angeles and San Diego. The earthquake occurred on a strike-slip fault, in which one side slips horizontally past the other.

Seismologists earlier this year said the number of earthquakes greater than magnitude 4 in Southern California and Baja California has increased significantly in 2010. They haven't been able to fully explain the rise, but experts have said the region had been in a lull in recent years and the frequency of quakes was probably picking up again.