Are You Prepared? Stronger Earthquakes Striking in Southern California in 2024

If it seems there have been more and bigger earthquakes in Southern California recently, it’s because there have been more.

Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist from California Technical Institute in Pasadena, posted on social media that there have been 13 earthquakes in Southern California with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater this year.

There have been about five earthquakes per year of 4.0 or greater in Southern California over the past 20 years.

Since 1932, the average number of earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.0 or greater in Southern California is between 10 and 12, Jones posted. The number of earthquakes greater than 4.0 in 2024 is closer to the average recorded in Southern California over the past 90 years.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 centered near the Highland Park area rattled a wide swath of the Southland Monday.

The temblor hit at 12:20 p.m., centered 2 miles south-southeast of Highland Park, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The magnitude was initially reported at 4.6 but was later reduced to 4.4. It struck at a depth of about 7.5 miles.

Many residents reported a rolling sensation that lasted for several seconds. In Pasadena, close to the quake’s epicenter, a water line ruptured as a result of the quake at Pasadena City Hall, and water could be seen pouring out of a pipe on the building’s exterior. Employees mostly evacuated the building but began going back inside around 1:15 p.m.

Jones told reporters the earthquake appeared to be based in the same group of faults that created the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake. She noted that it occurred in roughly the same location as a 3.4-magnitude quake that struck on June 2.

“There have been others in the past,” Jones said. “In 1989, we had a pair of four-and-a-halfs there were also in the system that were just a half-hour apart. There have been plenty of small ones over the years that are also within this.”

The quake came on the heels of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake on Aug. 6 centered in the Bakersfield area that was also felt across most of the Southland.

Local officials urged residents to use the quake as a reminder to be prepared for a shaker at any time.

“Having lived through the Northridge earthquake, today’s tremor made me flashback to what we know are life-saving rules during an earthquake: drop, cover, and hold on,” county Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement Monday. “It was also a reminder to us all that we live in earthquake country and we need to be prepared.”

–City News Service