Malibu earthquake is the 14th series of magnitude 4.0 this year. It is the largest since 1988.
An 4.7 magnitude earthquake was felt in the Malibu area on Thursday which makes it the 14th sequence of earthquakes with magnitude 4.0 in Southern California this year.
By Rob Hayes
Sep 13, 2024 02:49 AM
MALIBU, Calif. (KABC) -A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit the Malibu region on Thursday which makes it the 14th sequence of earthquakes with magnitude 4.0 in Southern California this year – the highest level since 1988.
“We’ve had it now for a few years, but we’re kind of getting a few of these alerts now, so people are getting used to it,” said Dr. Allen Husker, a seismologist at Caltech.
Although many believe that smaller earthquakes reduce the chance of experiencing a massive one Husker claims it does not exactly work this way.
“There’s no way, unfortunately, to alleviate the big one,” the doctor stated. “Really, the big ones are so much bigger that you would need hundreds or thousands of these small ones really to equate kind of like that big one, and we just don’t … there’s not enough.”
The majority of smaller earthquakes could cause the opposite.
Husker claimed that seismic modeling indicates Southern California is overdue for “the big one,” and smaller earthquakes tend to suggest larger ones.
“Each earthquake slightly increases the chance of a future earthquake that’s about the same magnitude or larger,” he added.
Thursday’s earthquake occurred close near it on the Malibu fault, but it was close to that of the Anacapa fault. Earthquakes below magnitude 5.0 aren’t large enough to be firmly linked with massive faults that are traced on the surface of the earth.
The quake occurred at 7:28 a.m. at the depth of almost 6 miles. It originally registered as an 5.1 however, it was swiftly reduced to a 5.1. A series of aftershocks rattled the region in the hours following with one of them being one that measured 3.4 at 8:40 a.m.
There was no report of injuries or damage were made. Preparation, of course, is your strategy for the event of a major earthquake.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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