A magnitude-4.4 earthquake hit Los Angeles on Monday afternoon, rattling a wide swath of the city.
The earthquake, which was initially measured at magnitude 4.7, struck at 12:20 p.m. local time (3:20 p.m. ET) and was centered roughly 2.5 miles southeast of Highland Park, a neighborhood in northeastern Los Angeles. The U.S. Geological Survey then revised the preliminary measurement to magnitude 4.4.
"Significant earthquake just felt in the Los Angeles area," the Los Angeles Police Department wrote on X. "Reminder, please use 911 only for emergencies. Be prepared for aftershocks."
About an hour after the earthquake, the Los Angeles Fire Department said its surveys had not uncovered any major infrastructure damage or injuries within the city.
Officials with the city of Pasadena, which is close to the earthquake's epicenter, said the shaking caused a water pipe to burst inside City Hall, forcing employees to temporarily evacuate the building. But otherwise, no major damage was identified.
Still, the effects were felt much farther away, including in Hollywood, around 9 miles west of South Pasadena, where the quake caused a rattling sound in buildings and a sensation of rocking back and forth.
Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, said the quake most likely occurred on a shallow fault similar to the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake. That magnitude-5.9 temblor struck 12 miles east of Los Angeles, killing eight people and causing substantial property damage.
It’s not yet known precisely which fault ruptured Monday. Jones said on X that the area features “several faults that stack on top of each other, none of which come to the surface.”
The National Weather Service said no tsunami was expected.
