LA rocked by 4.4 magnitude earthquake as experts warn more could come

A preliminary 4.4 magnitude earthquake sent shockwaves through Los Angeles after California was rocked by a tremor yesterday (Wednesday). The US Geological Survey (USGS) detected the shake, which was recorded at 9:32am PT (12:32pm ET), about three miles west of Muscoy in San Bernardino County. Four minutes later a 3.1 magnitude quake hit near Rialto, with smaller quakes under magnitude 2 also detected around the epicenter (Picture: Getty)

What happened?

The past 10 days have seen three earthquakes with magnitudes of 3.0 or higher in California, with the USGS receiving dozens of reports of shaking from locals – some as far as Long Beach. However, no damages or injuries have been reported so far. It’s thought that the quakes happened along the southern segment of the San Andreas Fault, which runs near Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County (Picture: Twitter)

San Bernardino County is one of the most seismically active in Southern California and also lies near the San Jacinto Fault Zone, another major fault system contributing to regional quake activity. About an hour before the 4.4 quake, the USGS detected 3.0 and 2.8 magnitude earthquakes in the same area. People reported feeling shaking in areas such as Jurupa Valley, Eastvale, Ontario and even as far as Redondo Beach (Picture: Twitter)

Will this happen again?

The USGS says there is a 49% chance of a magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquake striking the same area within the next week, and a 10% chance of a magnitude 4.0 or greater event. The area has seen around 130 quakes of magnitude 3.0 and greater since 1990, many coming in clusters. There have been eight quakes of magnitude 4.0 since then (Picture: Twitter)

Writing on X, 0xiiinvestor said: ‘Anyone felt that little earthquake just now in LA?’ TheOnlyMHS referenced the recent tsunami warnings and wrote: ‘LA didn't want the tsunami so bad that it counteracted it with an earthquake to shake it back to the ocean.’ And Nickvimal said: ‘Small earthquake in LA just now! Always an interesting experience in a high-rise…’ (Picture: Getty)

The news comes after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck 84 miles east-southeast of Kamchatka in Russia, which unleashed powerful waves that battered buildings in Siberia and northeastern Japan. The quake ranks as the sixth most powerful earthquake ever recorded, and led to tsunami warnings across Japan, parts of the US and Canada, as well as Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Australia, Colombia, Mexico, New Zealand and Tonga (Picture: Getty)

However, although waves of up to five meters hit coastal towns in Kamchatka, in other parts of the world the waves were smaller than expected. In Japan, many warnings have now been downgraded or lifted with relatively little damage. Waves of up to 1.09m hit Crescent City in northern California, and there were tidal surges of up to 0.7m in San Francisco. In French Polynesia, there were wave heights reaching 1.5m, although they were expecting 4m waves (Picture: Getty)