By Stefanie Dazio and Julie Watson | Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A 4.6-magnitude earthquake struck the Southern California coast near Malibu on Friday and was widely felt in the Los Angeles region, rattling windows and shaking shelves but bringing no reports of major damage or injuries.
The area of the epicenter was in the rugged Santa Monica Mountains, roughly 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of downtown Los Angeles. The range rises steeply from the coastline, and the nearest homes to the epicenter are on a narrow strip of development along the shore or scattered in the ridges and canyons. The quake struck at 1:47 p.m. at a depth of about 8 miles (13 kilometers), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was felt from the Malibu coast south to Orange County and east to downtown Los Angeles. Some people said they felt the quake as a jolt, while others described more of a swaying motion.
Anthony Valdez, an associate at the Surfing Cowboys store in Malibu, said it shook long and hard enough that he wondered if it was going to grow to become a big one. So he hurried out to the street.
“I work in a shop with surfboards hanging from the ceiling, so I’m not going to go out from a surfboard bonking me on top of my head. I’d rather run out,” he said.
The quake was not related to a 5.7-magnitude shock that hit Hawaii’s Big Island on Friday, seismologist Lucy Jones said.
Jones said the magnitude of the quake was not of a severity that would cause expectations of damage.
“It’s sort of run-of-the-mill for earthquake country,” Jones said.
Elizabeth Ackerman was working from home in her family’s apartment in the San Fernando Valley when the quake hit.
The communications specialist was doing some magazine editing when she felt “a sharp shock, like the jolt of a roller coaster car at the beginning of a ride,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The couch felt like it moved under her, she told The Associated Press in a phone interview, as the window blinds shook and a birthday banner for her 14-year-old son swung on the wall. She dove under her dining table just in case the shaking continued.
At Broad Street Oyster Co. in Malibu, Anthony Benavidez said everyone froze for a few seconds when the ground started moving.
“It was a good shake,” he said. “It wasn’t super bad. We just were making sure nothing fell off the shelves.”
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center reported that no tsunami was triggered.
Friday is the 53rd anniversary of Southern California’s 1971 San Fernando earthquake, which was recorded as magnitude 6.6. Also known as the Sylmar earthquake, it killed 64 people and caused over $500 million in damage.