A series of earthquakes ranging up to magnitude 4.7 shook an area north of Los Angeles on Thursday. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The temblors in the San Joaquin Valley about 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles began with a magnitude-3.4 jolt that was quickly followed by the 4.7 at 1:24 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena.
Seismologists recorded several strong aftershocks.
“We felt it pretty good, like someone picked up the store and shook it,” said Donald Sullivan, an employee at the Mettler Renegade truck stop and gas station.
The area has had quakes before, but this one still made people jump, he said. Other than drinks rattling off the shelves, though, it didn’t do any real harm, he said.
The quakes occurred near the White Wolf fault. The last time that fault caused a major earthquake was in 1952 when an estimated magnitude-7.5 temblor killed 12 people and injured 18.
