A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Southern California on Sunday afternoon because the area prepares for the approaching arrival of Tropical Storm Hilary, which is anticipated to trigger document rainfalls and flooding.
The quake was centered in Ventura County, about 4 miles southeast of Ojai, which sits 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Scott Thomsen of the Ventura County Fire Department informed The Los Angeles Times “so far we have no reports of damage but we are checking.”
A map displaying the situation of an earthquake in Ventura County, California, on 20 August, 2023
(US Geological Survey)
“We are in the middle of the first tropical storm since 1939, and we just had an earthquake,” he mentioned.
Patty McFall, an area gallery proprietor, informed the paper, “We had some damage. We had some pieces fall. Three or four pieces broke. Others are okay on the floor.”
The earthquake, which was reported round 2.40pm, brought on 4 aftershocks, every with a magnitude of three or better, in line with the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The Ventura County Aviation unit performed an inspection of town of Ojai, in addition to the Lake Casitas and Matilija dams and reported no points.
“It knocked stuff over and off the shelves,” Rains cashier Frances Fitting informed The Ventura County Star. “We’re cleaning up now and mopping up. Nobody was injured.”
“We got a pretty good jolt,” a retailer supervisor at an Albertsons grocery store in Carpinteria informed the Santa Barbara Independent. “The banners were swaying back and forth, but nothing fell off the shelves.”
The Los Angeles Fire Department mentioned it was activitating all 106 of its neighbourhood stations to conduct surveys following the earthquake.
The earthquake is unlikely to trigger a tsunami, the US National Tsunami Warning Center mentioned, neither is it more likely to trigger landslides or liquefaction, in line with the USGS.
The energy of the quake on this location was unusual, seismology skilled Lucy Jones informed ABC 7.
“This is the first time we’ve had a magnitude 5 since 1932 in exactly this location,” she mentioned. “Within the Ventura basin, it’s simply not frequent.”