Strong quake shakes Southern California

LOS ANGELES - A strong earthquake shook Southern California on Tuesday, causing buildings to sway and triggering some precautionary evacuations. There were no immediate reports of major damage or serious injuries.

The 5.4-magnitude quake — considered moderate — was felt about 11:42 a.m. from Los Angeles to San Diego, and as far east as Las Vegas, 230 miles away. Nearly 30 aftershocks quickly followed, the largest estimated at 3.8.

The quake was centered 29 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles near Chino Hills, a San Bernardino County city of 80,000 built mostly in the early 1990s with the latest in earthquake-resistant technology.

Buildings swayed in downtown Los Angeles for several seconds, leading to the evacuation of some offices.

"I'm still shaking. My knees are wobbling. I thought the building might collapse," said Rosana Martinez, 50, who works in a fifth-floor office at the California National Bank in downtown Los Angeles.

Not a killer quake
The quake initially was estimated at 5.8 but was revised downward to magnitude-5.4, said seismologist Kate Hutton of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena. The USGS estimated the quake was about 8 miles below the earth's surface.

"It will certainly cause cracked plaster and broken windows, but probably not structural damage," Hutton said.

As strong as it felt, Tuesday's quake was far less powerful than the deadly magnitude-6.7 Northridge earthquake that toppled bridges and buildings on Jan. 17, 1994. That was the last damaging temblor in Southern California, though not the biggest. A 7.1 quake struck the desert in 1999.

The earthquake had about 1 percent of the energy of the Northridge quake, said Thomas Heaton, director of the earthquake engineering and research laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

The magnitude-5.9 Whittier Narrows quake in 1987 was the last large one centered in the region hit Tuesday. That quake heavily damaged older buildings and houses in communities east of Los Angeles.

"People have forgotten, I think, what earthquakes feel like," said Hutton. "So I think we should probably look at it as an earthquake drill. ... It's a drill for the `Big One' that will be coming some day."

'Get under the tables'
Disneyland visitor Clint Hendrickson, 32, said he was in the Golden Horseshoe theater watching a show when the temblor hit.

"The ground moved and the chandelier started shaking," he said. "We are from Texas and we thought it was part of the show, until people started yelling, 'Get under the tables!'"

Attractions at Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure theme parks and at the Knott's Berry Farm theme park were temporarily closed for inspections after the shaking.

The quake interrupted a meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, causing the 27-story City Hall to sway just as Councilman Dennis Zine was criticizing a plan to increase trash fees.

"And there goes the earthquake — earthquake, earthquake, earthquake!" said Zine, as members of the audience began to cry out. "The building is rolling!"

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