Brief 4.3 Quake in Pacific Jolts Southland Area
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An offshore earthquake registering 4.3 on the Richter scale jolted Southern California Saturday but there were no reports of damage or injuries.
The 4:58 p.m. temblor was centered 40 miles west of San Pedro in the Pacific Ocean, according to officials at Caltech. It rattled homes from San Clemente to Malibu and was felt as far inland as San Bernardino.
Seismologists were uncertain how long the quake lasted. “It certainly was brief,” said Caltech professor Clarence Allen.
The quake was not related to the Oct. 1 Whittier earthquake or its aftershocks, according to authorities.
Allen said undersea earthquakes off the Southern California coast are fairly common because of the many faults in the region. “There certainly is no reason for any alarm,” he said. “It is not a terribly important event.”
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