Magnitude 3.5 earthquake shakes Los Angeles

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake reportedly sent tremors across Los Angeles Sunday night. There were no immediate reports of injuries or any damages.

The small earthquake jolted Los Angeles at 9:17 p.m., and it occurred at a depth of six miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was centered nearly a mile southwest of the View-Park Windsor Hills neighborhood in south Los Angeles, just north of Inglewood. Tremors were felt from the San Fernando Valley down to the Long Beach area, according to a USGS website for citizen reports.

USGS seismologist Lucy Jones stated that another earthquake of 2.5 magnitude, which was close to other quake’s epicenter, was reported at 4:35 p.m. Sunday. The epicenter was reportedly near Baldwin Hills oil wells and the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area west of downtown. Since the earthquake occurred so close to oil fields, some began to wonder if the earthquake was owed to heavy drilling.

Jones wrote on Twitter that the seismic events happened close to the Newport-Inglewood fault, and it occurred at a depth “way below the oil fields.” She added that the “focal mechanism matches the Newport-Inglewood fault” and the fault was producing quakes before oil was ever being pumped. Jones called the smaller quake a foreshock that usually happens before larger seismic activity.

As reported by USA Today, the Newport-Inglewood fault is a fault line dreaded by many. In 1933, an earthquake along the fault line ripped 20 miles south of Los Angeles along the coast of Long Beach.

The Los Angeles Fire Department transitioned to earthquake mode and sent firefighters across the city in search of any damages. But fire department spokesman Shawn Lenske said that after the 470 square miles of the city were inspected by all 106 fire stations in the area, no damage was found or reported.

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