An earthquake shock of magnitude 4.4 hit the city of Los Angelesin Californiaat 12:20 local (9.20pm Italian time). The earthquake had a depth of approximately 11 km and an epicenter near the neighborhood of Newton Park. Since it is a densely populated area, the shock was felt not only throughout the city but also in San Diego – about 200 km from the epicenter – and in Orange County, where the famous amusement park is located Disneyland. Despite this, the shock did not cause any particular damage, as confirmed by the first investigations carried out by the city’s Fire Department.
The shock, among other things, comes a few days after another earthquake of magnitude 5.2 that hit Southern California, near Bakersfield: in that case too there was no particular damage, even if it was clearly felt also in LA.
From a geological point of view, all this should not surprise us since the area is particularly seismic: along the entire western coast of the USA there is a complex system of faults, the best known of which is the strike-slip fault of San Andreas. It is a structure about 1280 kmdeep 16 km and made famous by the “Big One“, a journalistic term that refers to the much feared earthquake that could sooner or later hit California. Specifically, this expression refers to a shock of magnitude at least equal to the seventh Richter degree: The last major earthquake associated with the fault was on April 18, 1906, with a magnitude 8.3 earthquake that caused destruction and fires in the city of San Francisco.
Warning: the two earthquakes we have seen are not a sign of imminent activation of the San Andreas fault nor can they be considered as indications of the arrival of an imminent “Big One”. For this reason it is necessary not to jump to hasty conclusions and to rely on what is reported by the competent authorities in the matter – in this case theU.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
For further information, here is a video ad hoc on the subject, in which we tell one of the most destructive earthquakes in history:
