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Magnitude 4.4 earthquake felt near Los Angeles | Magnitude 4.4 earthquake felt near Los Angeles |
(about 1 hour later) | |
An earthquake has been strongly felt near Los Angeles, California, rattling nerves but so far causing no major damage or injury or deaths. | |
The 4.4-magnitude quake struck 9km (5.6 miles) from the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Westwood. | |
It hit at 06:25 local time (13:25 GMT), US officials said. | |
It was the strongest earthquake in Los Angeles since the last aftershocks from the 1994 Northridge quake, a government scientist said. | |
Dr Lucy Jones of the US Geological Survey (USGS) told the local CBS broadcaster there was a 5% chance another strong quake would strike within the next three days. | |
USGS seismologist Robert Graves said it was unusual for a quake of that magnitude to strike a large population centre. | |
"This is reminder we live in earthquake country," he said. | |
There were no immediate reports of injuries, though many Los Angeles area residents said the quake had frightened them out of bed. | |
"It felt like a bomb going off underneath our house," resident George McQuade told Associated Press news agency. | "It felt like a bomb going off underneath our house," resident George McQuade told Associated Press news agency. |
"Nothing was damaged, but it sure woke everyone up. It was an eye-opener." | "Nothing was damaged, but it sure woke everyone up. It was an eye-opener." |
Yvonne Villanueva told broadcaster KTLA she was getting ready for the morning and "all of a sudden I felt it jolt". | Yvonne Villanueva told broadcaster KTLA she was getting ready for the morning and "all of a sudden I felt it jolt". |
"You always have the big one in the back of your head," she said. | "You always have the big one in the back of your head," she said. |
The San Andreas fault, on the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate, runs directly through California, and the western US state has long braced for a devastating quake. | |
The Northridge quake, a 6.7-magnitude temblor, left at least 60 people dead. A 6.9 quake in San Francisco five years earlier killed 67 people. |