MALIBU—Some Malibu residents felt tremors on Tuesday, March 17 at approximately 7:30 p.m. A light earthquake with a 2.4 magnitude occurred in the North Pacific Ocean near Catalina Island.
According to the Volcano Discover website, Malibu had two quakes with a magnitude above 2.4 in the past 24 hours. There were 23 other quakes in the last seven days with a magnitude of less than two. Those earthquakes are the ones people don’t normally feel.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports the same earthquake at a magnitude of 2.5 on the on the Richter scale at 22:27:10 (UTC-05:00), located at 33.767°N; 118.736°W
The earthquake had a depth of 0.1 km. Another earthquake with a 2.6 magnitude (M 2.6-22km) was reported on the same day Northeast of the other in Ardo, California. Its depth was -0.7 km
Approximately 2 hours earlier, an earthquake with a 3.0 magnitude was reported in Ferndale California with a depth of 10.0 km.
USGS estimates approximately 10,000 earthquakes occur in Southern California annually, the majority of which cannot be felt.
According to the California Department of Conservation (CDOC), California experiences a couple of earthquakes annually capable of causing moderate damage to structures. Those would have a magnitude of 5.5 or higher.
Preparation is the key, “especially if you live on or near an active fault line. Unfortunately, some of the most populated cities in California are extremely likely to experience earthquakes. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego are all included in the ‘high hazard’ earthquake areas that cover large portions of the state,” states the CDOC.