The Los Angeles Times reported today that, “The magnitude-4.7 earthquake that rattled Southern California on Monday was the largest centered in the greater Los Angeles area since 2010, officials said. It’s been three years since we had anything this size close to Los Angeles, said Susan Hough, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. She cited a magnitude-5.4 quake that struck the desert area in July 2010.Since then, Southern California has experienced quakes larger than Monday's but they occurred closer to the U.S. – Mexico border. The quake struck at a depth of 7 to 8 miles, about 2 miles deeper than a typical quake, Hough said. Deeper quakes cause vibrations to travel farther and are less likely to create aftershocks, she said.”
There have been no reported deaths or injuries from the quake. According to Inquistr, “The California quake didn’t cause much damage today, but retired geology professor Pat Abbot said that it may be a precursor for a larger tremor. Abbot said that we’ll know within 72 hours if the quake today was just a foreshock. “There’s always that slight chance – slight chance now – that this could be the foreshock of something larger…Usually this is just an event all by itself … It doesn’t hurt to keep it in mind, in the next 72 hours in particular. If a larger one is going to occur it would probably be during that three-day period.”
"Earthquakes are a natural disaster that affects the environment and health of the people in the area. Injuries range from minor to major and include death. According to wired.com “A major earthquake somewhere in California is virtually a certainty in the next 30 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Some of the most hazardous regions of the state are also the most populated, including Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. A major quake in one of these areas is guaranteed to be a disaster that will take many lives."
"The United States has already had several deadly earthquakes. Over the past 140 years, major quakes have struck Alaska, Hawaii, California and even South Carolina and killed at least 60, but in some cases hundreds of people. The country's most famous earthquake killed 3,000 or more people in San Francisco in 1906. But geologists estimate the next big one to hit the Bay Area would surely make this list of the 10 deadliest in the country's history."
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