A magnitude 4.4 earthquake shook Caltech’s campus round 12:20 p.m. on Monday, August 12, and was felt throughout the better Los Angeles space.
The earthquake’s epicenter was pinpointed close to the border of South Pasadena and the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, roughly 5 miles from Caltech’s campus in Pasadena.
Caltech workers, college students, and group members reported transient however sturdy shaking throughout campus, and the Institute delivered an e mail alert through the emergency notification system instantly after the earthquake. Caltech Amenities assessed campus constructing operations and companies within the aftermath of the quake and there have been no reported accidents or sustained interruptions to methods and services.
Allen Husker, analysis professor of geophysics; and Lucy Jones, visiting affiliate in geophysics; together with different Caltech seismologists and members of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), offered details about the quake to the information media and public throughout a press convention hosted by the Caltech Seismological Laboratory. In accordance with Jones, the earthquake occurred on the identical fault system that produced the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake. Jones stated this fault system is among the most doubtlessly harmful in California because it runs beneath downtown Los Angeles. Nonetheless, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake is unlikely to trigger notable harm, she added.
Husker indicated that it isn’t attainable to make clear the precise fault that induced the earthquake because of ambiguity within the delineation of faults, though proof means that it was the Decrease Elysian Park thrust fault or the Puente Hills fault.
Regardless of the comparatively low magnitude of the quake, there was an inflow of stories throughout the Los Angeles space to the USGS “Did You Really feel It?” earthquake shake mapping device following the occasion.
“The rationale so many individuals felt shaking is as a result of there have been lots of people on high of this earthquake,” stated Jones on the press convention.
USGS seismologist Susan Hough stated there have been greater than 20,000 stories made within the hours following the earthquake, and encourages anybody who felt the earthquake to report their expertise.
Caltech workers seismologist Gabrielle Tepp stated that as of three:45 p.m., the Seismo Lab had recorded 5 aftershocks following the quake, with the 2 largest registering a magnitude 2.1. Whereas there stays some chance of a bigger earthquake to come back, the probability decreases over time.
“Any earthquake in California has a one in 20 probability of one thing greater following,” stated Hough. “However it will seemingly solely be barely bigger than a 4.4 magnitude.”
Hough stated that she felt the earthquake whereas grabbing lunch at Browne Eating Corridor on campus. Husker additionally reported feeling the quake on campus from his workplace in South Mudd.
“I used to be consuming a salad, and I needed to set it down and get below my desk,” Husker stated. “It was a fairly good jolt, although this earthquake was a lot shorter than those I felt when residing in Mexico Metropolis.”