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LOS ANGELES >> A magnitude-4.3 earthquake and aftershocks rattled the Los Angeles region today, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
The quake hit around 1:47 p.m. (10:47 a.m. Hawaii time) and was centered 24 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was followed by a half-dozen aftershocks up to magnitude-3. The jolt was felt widely across Los Angeles County including the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, downtown and to the coast.
No damage or injuries were reported in the Santa Clarita area near the epicenter, said Sgt. Michael Bailey at the local Los Angeles County sheriff’s station.
The quake felt like a rolling motion, Bailey said.
“We felt it here in the station. It was gentle shaking,” he said. “We were right on top of it.”
Pauley Perrette, an actress on the crime drama “NCIS,” tweeted that she felt the quake and aftershocks on the show’s set, which was near the epicenter.
“All is well, lots of equipment shook,” she posted.
Today’s quake was close to where the 1971 magnitude-6.6 San Fernando earthquake hit. Unlike the San Fernando quake, which occurred on a thrust fault, this one appears to be a strike-slip event in which rocks on either side of the fault slide past each other, said geophysicist Doug Given of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Given said unsecured objects could have fallen off shelves near the epicenter, but he expected little damage.
“It’s not the kind of quake that will break windows or crack walls,” Given said.
