Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Hits Northern California (VIDEO)

It's Ferndale, at small town on the NorCal Coast.

At the Los Angeles Times, "At least 2 dead, 11 injured in 6.4 earthquake in Northern California." 

That's a big quake.

More at KPIX CBS News 5 San Francisco:

Sylmar Earthquake of 1971 Still Rattles

I was 9-years-old when the Sylmar earthquake woke up Southern California Feb. 9, 1971 --- and I still remember it clearly. Even in Orange County it caused structural damage. Our house in the City of Orange had some cracks in the walls afterwards. And on that same day, my fourth grade class had a field trip planned to Los Angeles (I think to the tar pits, but I can't remember.) All the kids lining up before classes at 8:00am were chattering on about how their families also felt it. And while there've been stronger earthquakes in California since then (Lomo Prieta in 1989 and the Northridge quake in 1994), apparently it's the Sylmar quake that still resonates the strongest in the geological scientific community.

Also interesting, at the L.A. Times piece below, is that apparently back in the 1970s, the state actually had some good and farsighted leadership who passed legislation that did some good things to protect the state's residents from future temblors. (Must've not been so many Dems in Sacramento back then, for one thing.)

In any case, this is fascinating, "50 years ago, the Sylmar earthquake shook L.A., and nothing’s been the same since":

How close Los Angeles came to what would have been — many times over— the deadliest disaster in U.S. history remains a matter of historical conjecture.

When the Sylmar earthquake rumbled through Los Angeles 50 years ago, on Feb. 9, 1971, the top of the earthen Lower Van Norman Dam melted into the reservoir. No one knows exactly what kept the dam near Granada Hills from collapsing. Was it the number of feet of earthen wall that remained? Was it the duration of the quake, since a few more seconds might have shaken loose the rest of the dam face, unleashing a torrent on tens of thousands of homes below?

That the dam survived has rendered those questions a subject for scientific inquiry rather than the annals of catastrophe.

But what might have been remains part of the mystique that sustains the Sylmar earthquake — formally, the San Fernando earthquake — as the keystone in the long arc of seismic knowledge and the practice of earthquake safety. The quake might not have been the Big One, but it still managed to wake California up to a danger that was largely unrecognized. The modern era of earthquake awareness and preparedness is deeply rooted in Sylmar.

Before then, earthquakes were either removed in time — 1906 in San Francisco, 1933 in Long Beach — or physically distant —1964 in Anchorage.

The 6.6 magnitude earthquake that struck the northeast San Fernando Valley seconds after 6 a.m. not only woke up the city but fixated the nation’s budding seismic community as none had before.

“Los Angeles was the city of the future,” said geophysicist Susan Hough of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Sciences Center. “You had the space-age LAX. You have this modern glistening city and all of a sudden hospitals are being knocked down. It really got people’s attention in many ways.”

The indelible images of Sylmar were the hospitals.

At the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sylmar, two buildings dating to the 1920s collapsed and several others were severely damaged, causing 49 of the 64 deaths attributed to the disaster.

Less costly in lives, yet more startling to engineers and scientists, was the partial collapse of the 4-month-old Olive View Medical Center. Elevator towers tumbled, and the second floor of the 50-bed psychiatric unit collapsed onto the first. Three died there.

No less shocking was the collapse of the soaring, nearly completed overpass from the new Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) to the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5) in Newhall Pass and portions of the Foothill Freeway (I-210) interchange, where two men in a pickup were killed.

“There were some structures that people thought were safe that turned out not to be,” Hough said.

The hospital buildings and the freeways, all made of concrete, proved unable to roll with the earthquake’s punches.

“We as an engineering community learned from that, that just having strength was not enough,” said Jonathan Stewart, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UCLA. “You had to have ductility” — the ability to stretch. “The [building] code would essentially produce nonductile concrete buildings.”

Another revelation was the damage to single-family homes, at the time thought to be resilient enough to ride out moderate quakes. They proved helpless when the fault rupture reached the surface, a phenomenon that had not previously occurred in an urban earthquake.

“It would go through people’s lawns, it would go through homes,” said Tim Dawson, engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey. “It would torque the buildings. That was the recognition of that earthquake, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t be building on top of faults that can rupture the surface.’”

For the seismic community, the near debacle of the Lower Van Norman Dam, causing no loss of life but forcing the evacuation of 80,000 people, was the most frightening lesson.

“This was a big one because people started to realize you could have killed 100,000 people if that dam had cut loose,” said acting state geologist Steve Bohlen.

Luck may have played a part. The water level had been lowered 10 feet in 1967 after an evaluation had raised doubt about its stability.

“It was very close,” Bohlen said. “Had the shaking gone on for maybe another five seconds or 10, it could have been horrific. It galvanized both the state and the federal government.”

Still more at that top link, including photos and video.

 

Local CBS News Anchor Ducks Under Desk During 7.1 Earthquake (VIDEO)

Althouse has it, "'I think we need to get under the desk'."

And at the Hollywood Reporter, "Panic on Local L.A. News Station Following 7.1 Earthquake."

I didn't feel the need to duck, not yet, at least. But the earthquake was long, and I was ready to move if it kept going. My wife said perhaps this lady wasn't from California, and hadn't live through earthquakes. If you're not used to them, you might freak out.

Thanks Alan. Whew! https://t.co/BUJjv0ErzW

— Juan Fernandez (@NewsJuan) July 6, 2019

New 7.1 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks California (VIDEO)

I felt both earthquakes, but last night's was much more powerful. My apartment was rolling for about 20 seconds, but even as it was rolling and rocking, I felt bad for Ridgecrest, because I could imagine how strong and deadly it was at the epicenter.

This second quake was actually a "foreshock" to the Fourth of July temblor.

At the Los Angeles Times, "7.1 earthquake causes damage; more significant temblors likely":

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Southern California on Friday night, the second major temblor in less than two days and one that rocked buildings across Southern California, adding more jitters to an already nervous region.

The quake was centered near Ridgecrest, the location of the July Fourth 6.4 magnitude temblor that was the largest in nearly 20 years. It was followed by an aftershock first reported as 5.5 in magnitude. Scientists said the fault causing the quakes appears to be growing...

More.

Mexico Earthquake: Scenes of Desolation and Hope (VIDEO)

At LAT, "In Mexico, scenes of desolation and hope as the death toll reaches 274":

Scenes of desolation and rejoicing unspooled Thursday at the sites of buildings crumbled by Mexico’s deadly earthquake, which killed at least 274 people and galvanized heroic efforts to reach those trapped.

But a parallel drama transpired as the government announced that there were no missing children in the ruins of a collapsed school — after the country was transfixed for a night and a day by reports of a 12-year-old girl feebly signaling to rescuers from under the rubble.

Outrage ensued over what many Mexicans believed was a deliberate deception.

On Thursday afternoon, the Mexican navy reported that there was no sign that any child was missing and alive in the rubble of the Enrique Rebsamen school on Mexico City’s south side, where at least 19 children and six adults had died. One more adult might still be trapped in the rubble, navy Undersecretary Angel Enrique Sarmiento said at a news conference.

“All of the children are unfortunately dead,” he said, “or safe at home.”

Mexico’s larger tragedy continued to unfold as rescuers in three states, battling grinding fatigue and mountains of rubble, raced against time, keenly aware of ever-dwindling odds of finding people alive beneath the debris after Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 temblor.

The overall confirmed fatality count was expected to climb as more bodies were recovered. Rescuers at sites across the sprawling metropolis of Mexico City used search dogs and calls to the cellphones of those trapped to try to pinpoint the location of anyone who had survived two nights under the remains of damaged buildings.

The harrowing rescue effort at the Enrique Rebsamen school had become a social media sensation when news outlets began reporting intensively about the search for a trapped girl thought to be named “Frida Sofia.”

By Thursday afternoon, authorities said that at least one boy or girl was believed to be alive in the wrecked building but that they were not sure of the child’s name. Then the navy’s announcement dashed any remaining hopes for small survivors.

The confusing Frida Sofia saga took another strange turn Thursday night, when a grim-faced Sarmiento went on live television and sought to explain earlier statements by the navy about the girl. He ended up confusing matters even further.

Earlier Thursday, Sarmiento had insisted that the navy never had any knowledge of a girl who was supposedly trapped in the rubble.

In his evening news conference, however, Sarmiento contradicted the earlier statement, conceding that the navy had distributed reports of a girl surviving inside the school “based on technical reports and the testimony of civilian rescue workers and of this institution.” He offered no explanation for the conflicting accounts, but apologized.

“I offer an apology to Mexicans for the information given this afternoon in which I said that the navy did not have any details about a supposed minor survivor in this tragedy,” Sarmiento, dressed in military fatigues, told reporters at an outdoor news conference.

Sarmiento repeated his earlier assertion that it was possible that someone remained alive in the rubble. But Thursday evening he did not rule out the possibility that it was a child. Mexicans and others following the matter were left perplexed.

“Nonetheless,” Sarmiento added, “the Mexican people should know that as long as the minimum possibility exists that there is someone alive, we will keep on looking with the same determination.”

Both he and a colleague, Maj. Jose Luis Vergara, denied any effort to mislead the public...

More.

Deadly Earthquake Strikes Mexico

Kate Linthicum was in Mexico City and she's lucky she wasn't killed in the temblor.

Here she is, et al., at LAT, "At least 248 killed as powerful 7.1 earthquake strikes central Mexico":

The earthquake nearly toppled this building across from me in Mexico City. People fled screaming as buildings crumbled. Scary as hell. pic.twitter.com/PDCFm8vh0B

— Kate Linthicum (@katelinthicum) September 19, 2017

A powerful 7.1 earthquake rocked central Mexico on Tuesday, collapsing homes and bridges across hundreds of miles, killing at least 217 people and sending thousands more fleeing into the streets screaming in a country still reeling from a deadly temblor that struck less than two weeks ago.

Entire apartment blocks swayed violently in the center of Mexico City, including in the historic districts of El Centro and Roma, crumbling balconies and causing huge cracks to appear on building facades.

Panic spread through the city's core; rescue vehicles raced toward damaged buildings, and neighbors took on heroic roles as rescuers.

Firefighters and police officers scrambled to pull survivors from a collapsed elementary and secondary school where children died.

"There are 22 bodies here — two are adults — 30 children are missing and eight other adults missing. And workers are continuing rescue efforts," President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Tuesday night.

At least 86 people were reported killed and 44 buildings severely damaged in the capital alone. Twelve other people died in the surrounding state of Mexico, 71 across the state of Morelos, 43 in Puebla state, four in Guerrero state and one in Oaxaca, according to Mexican officials.

The temblor struck 32 years to the day after another powerful earthquake that killed thousands and devastated large parts of Mexico City — a tragedy that Peña Nieto had commemorated earlier Tuesday.

Around 11 a.m., Julian Dominguez heard alarms sounding in the neighborhood of Iztapalapa, part of a citywide drill to mark the anniversary of the magnitude 8.0 quake. Schools and other buildings evacuated, but he kept working at his computer.

About two hours later, Dominguez, 27, started to feel the building move, and alarms sounded again.

"It started really slowly,” he said, but within seconds it was clear that this was no drill.

Dominguez raced down a flight of stairs. Crowds of people already had gathered outside. Parents were crying, worried for their children still in school.

"It was strange that it fell on the same day … as another earthquake that caused so much damage," Dominguez said.

The federal government declared a state of disaster in Mexico City and dispatched 3,428 troops to affected areas there and in nearby states.

"We are facing a new emergency in Mexico City, in the state of Puebla and Morelos, following the 7.1 magnitude earthquake,” Peña Nieto said, adding that he had asked all hospitals to help care for the injured...

More.

Hurricane Harvey's a Wake-up for Los Angeles

I mentioned to my wife that we don't get that kind of Texas flooding in Southern California (thank goodness), but I fear a catastrophic earthquake. We're due for a big one, if not "The Big One."

Remember the freeway that pancaked in Oakland during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989? And the Bay Bridge snapped in half? Plus, all the other devastation? That's my worst fear.

In Los Angeles, we had the 1994 Northridge 'quake. I lived in Santa Barbara at the time and the temblor literally picked up my apartment and smashed it back down. I was already awake, at about 5:00am. All the streetlights and floodlights at the apartment complex went out. Power was out all together until the early afternoon. There were now mobile phones so you weren't checking everything out on your device.

Anyway, here's the Los Angeles Times, "Houston offers a grim vision of Los Angeles after catastrophic earthquake":

For years, scientists have drawn up terrifying scenarios of widespread destruction and chaos that would come to Southern California when a catastrophic earthquake hits.

Their efforts to warn the public may get an unlikely boost from the unprecedented disaster unfolding in Houston, where Tropical Storm Harvey dumped trillions of gallons of rain across Texas and brought America’s fourth-largest city to its knees.

While epic flooding is different from a powerful temblor, both natural disasters fundamentally alter daily life for months or years.

In recent years, officials have drawn up detailed scenarios of what would happen if a huge quake struck this region, part of a larger campaign to better prepare.

The last two big earthquakes to hit Los Angeles — the 1971 Sylmar quake and 1994 Northridge quake — caused destruction and loss of life. But the worst damage was concentrated in relatively small areas and did not fundamentally bring daily life across all of Southern California to a halt.

Experts have long warned that a significantly larger quake will eventually strike and that the toll will be far greater...

More.

3.1 Earthquake Hits Near Costa Mesa

It was a pretty decent shaker, of course I'm located just a few miles away from the epicenter.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Earthquake: 3.1 quake strikes near Costa Mesa."

I tweeted right when it hit.

Earthquake!

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) December 20, 2015

Mt. St. Helens Eruption 35 Years Ago Today

I wasn't reading the newspapers too much back in 1980, but I remember when National Geographic came out with its cover story on the eruption. I was absolutely fascinated. I've never forgotten the pictures from that edition and whenever I visit friends with a National Geographic collection, I always go and find that issue. (See, "Mountain With a Death Wish.")

USA Today had a great graphic report over the weekend, "Mount St. Helens: Facts about deadliest U.S. volcanic event 35 years later."

I was watching a bunch of videos of the eruption on YouTube last night, at the U.S. Geological Survey page in particular. Check it out on Google.

Wreckage of Camp Pendleton Helicopter Found in Nepal

At the San Diego Union-Tribune, "After waiting, grief: All dead in helo crash: One Marine Corps pilot is a Fallbrook man, leaves behind pregnant wife."

Families were trying to hold out hope, but too late. At ABC 10 San Diego, "Families hold out hope after wreckage of missing Marine copter found in Nepal."

Hope Fades on Finding More #NepalEarthquake Survivors

Sad.

At the Los Angeles Times, "Hope of finding more Nepal quake survivors fades as toll tops 5,200":

Hope of finding survivors in rubble was fading fast Wednesday as the death toll from last weekend’s earthquake in Nepal surpassed 5,200. But after days of complaints about the shortage of aid, a somewhat stronger presence of foreign search-and-rescue teams and assistance convoys was evident in the capital and outlying districts.

A logjam of airplane traffic and passengers began to clear at Katmandu’s airport, where authorities said they had picked up 1.5 tons of trash from the overrun facility. Banks, restaurants and even souvenir shops began to reopen in the capital.

Thousands of people, though, continued to look for ways out of the Katmandu Valley, hitching rides on crowded buses and taxis. Many were returning home to remote villages to assess the effects of the disaster. State-run Radio Nepal said 200,000 people had already left the valley as of late Tuesday and another 200,000 may leave in the coming days.

That exodus could crimp the ability of private businesses and government offices to function. Government authorities ordered civil servants to return to work Thursday, though schools and many other institutions remained closed indefinitely.

Indian, Russian, French, Chinese and Nepalese search-and-rescue teams were working across the capital, trying to find survivors amid collapsed buildings. But four days after the magnitude 7.8 quake, chances of finding anyone alive were slim.

As the sun began to set, Deepak Damai stood on the edge of the Sobhavagbati Bridge in Katmandu, clutching a photo of his 5-year-old son and explaining his agony to a reporter from an Indian TV station. The boy and his mother were in their apartment on the third floor of a seven-story building that collapsed during Saturday’s quake.

Damai, who had been working in Dubai at the time, flew home Monday to search for his wife and son. He watched with despair as Nepalese rescue workers drilled through the layers of concrete, pulling out four bodies. “Those people also lived on the third floor,” he said, his lip trembling.

Rescue workers had dug out 27 bodies so far and still had three more levels to drill through. A police officer said they expected to find a large number of bodies on the lowest level, which had housed an athletic club.

About half a mile away, Indian, Russian and Nepalese teams were using dogs and listening devices to try to locate survivors from three collapsed buildings, including a church where 50 people had been worshiping at the time of the quake.

Subrate Charkrabortui, an Indian physician on the scene, was downbeat. One body had been pulled out Wednesday, he said.

“We could do much more if we had better equipment," he said. "But it is difficult to airlift all the heavy equipment necessary to lift buildings like this.”

More.

Filmmaker Who Survived #NepalEarthquake Recounts Terrifying Moments at Mount Everest

At Telegraph UK, "Survivor recounts terrifying moments of Mount Everest avalanche."

Also at LAT, "Nepal's government ill-equipped to handle earthquake disaster."

Nepal's Seismic Time Bomb

At LAT, "Katmandu's poorly constructed buildings worsen quake outcome":

An exploding urban population that led to taller and often poorly constructed buildings, along with an unusually hazardous combination of geological conditions, had for years prompted warnings from scientists that the Katmandu Valley of Nepal was a seismic time bomb waiting to go off.

Saturday morning, it did.

The magnitude 7.8 earthquake and a magnitude 6.6 aftershock toppled buildings, set off a destructive avalanche on Mt. Everest and killed at least 1,805 people Saturday afternoon. That number is projected to rise as high as 10,000.

Brian Tucker, president of GeoHazards International, a California-based nonprofit that works with vulnerable communities to reduce the risks of natural disasters, spent much of the 1990s in Nepal. He was assessing what would happen if there was a reoccurrence of the magnitude 8.2 earthquake that struck the area in 1934 and left more than 10,000 dead in the Katmandu Valley. The analysis projected 40,000 deaths if a similar temblor occurred.

Others who have studied quake risks in the area more recently predicted a death toll of 100,000 or more from a large earthquake, including Roger Bilham, a professor of geology at the University of Colorado who studies Himalayan seismic activity. Just days ago, Bilham spoke to seismologists gathered in Pasadena about the risks of a major quake elsewhere in the Himalayan range. Bilham said the area west of Katmandu has been overdue for a temblor of around magnitude 8.

"Unfortunately, now it's happened, and it's a tragedy beyond belief," he said.

The area has a history of frequent seismic activity, although events as large as the one that occurred Saturday happen about once every 80 years, said Ole Kaven, a research geophysicist with U.S. Geological Survey.

Unlike the earthquakes that typically strike California, with two plates sliding past each other horizontally, the earthquake in Nepal was caused by a thrust fault, in which two plates collide. The fault also is shallow, meaning that the shaking occurs near the surface, rather than deep in the earth.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said faults like the one that caused this earthquake are most often found under water and can produce devastating tsunamis. But the Himalayan region is different.

"This is the one place where we have a lot of people living on top of a megathrust," she said...

More.

Also at WSJ, "How the Nepal Earthquake Happened."

Fascinating explanation of the Nepal earthquake http://t.co/4kO40qGPDR pic.twitter.com/dvMbdYdRbz

— LaurenceWitherington (@LaurenceWSJ) April 27, 2015

Nepal Warns Earthquake Death Toll Could Reach 10,000 — #NepalEarthquake

At London's Daily Mail, "Faces of the missing: Nepalese officials warn death toll of devastating quake could hit 10,000 as scores of American families are among the thousands searching for those still unaccounted for."

Plus, huge coverage at the Los Angeles Times, "Massive quake hits Nepal."

Caroline Heldman reports that her mountain climbing sister has been found safe:

My sister @Heldman is alive, are well as her fellow trekkers! They are trapped above an avalanche in the #Langtang region. #NepalEarthquake

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 26, 2015

PLEASE SHARE: My sister Kat Heldman is missing at Mt. Gangchempo in Nepal. Anyone there seen her? #NepalEarthquake pic.twitter.com/ElTu7ol8Ps

— Caroline Heldman (@carolineheldman) April 25, 2015

Thank God.

Nepal Earthquake: Hundreds Dead, Many Feared Trapped

At the BBC, "Nepal earthquake: Hundreds die, many feared trapped."

Plus, "Nepal earthquake 'felt across entire region'", and "Moment Nepal earthquake hit."

More at Memeorandum, "Nepal Earthquake Kills Hundreds and Levels Buildings in Capital."

VIDEO: 6.1 Earthquake Hits Napa in Northern California — #NapaQuake

Here's video at the Telegraph UK, "A large earthquake rocked California's northern Bay Area damaging buildings, igniting fires, knocking out power to tens of thousands and sending residents running out of their homes in the darkness."

At at USA Today, "What exactly happened in Napa during earthquake?", and "Napa earthquake: Damaged water mains hurt fire efforts."

And at KRON4 – San Francisco:





More at the KRON YouTube page.

And see iOWNTHEWORLD, "NAPA, CA: NUMEROUS BUILDINGS UNINHABITABLE AFTER EARTHQUAKE."

Hey, Earthquake Preparedness Is Cool Again in California

At Instapundit, "WELL, YES: For Californians, 2 Quakes Put Preparedness Back on the Map."

And, "IS CALIFORNIA OVERDUE FOR A BIG EARTHQUAKE?"



Hey, there's a 46 percent chance that the "big one" (7.5 or above) hits in the next 30 years. Personally, I've actually felt most of the big quakes in the last few decades, from Loma Prieta to Northridge. I fully expect a big one to hit, since there's no way to predict precisely when it's coming. That's life on the precipice in the once Golden State.

Magnitude-5.1 Earthquake Rocks Orange County and Los Angeles

Actually, there was a swarm of quakes last night. Turns out I'm upstairs reading and my wife comes up to tell me there was an earthquake, about 3.6 on the Richter scale, sometime around 8:00pm. I didn't feel it, but I was just saying that there've been a lot of quakes lately, and boom! Another one hits. First we started to laugh at the coincidence but the quake kept shaking our apartment --- a long roller, I called it --- and we stepped beneath the door frames until it passed.

So, that'll be good temblor line over beers during family get-togethers!

At LAT, "5.1 earthquake: More than 100 aftershocks, scattered damage":

That was a rolling quake. Scary enough but at least it didn't pick my place off the ground. That happened with Northridge in 1994.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) March 29, 2014

Now I am seeing serious tweets wondering if & actually blaming the earthquake in L.A. on fracking. Seriously people! SMH. It's Lex Luthor.
— Film Ladd (@FilmLadd) March 29, 2014

This #earthquake was felt far and wide, including: Claremont, Altadena, Lakewood, Westminster, Torrance... http://t.co/PRnQ4FfTJL
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 29, 2014

5.1-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Los Angeles Area http://t.co/2YLivR8FUu pic.twitter.com/hYm5GP5IIX
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) March 29, 2014

My parents live in Brea, next to La Habra. Earthquake shook stuff off shelves, pics off walls & scared the cats. No real damage. #California
— darleenclick (@darleenclick) March 29, 2014

More than 100 aftershocks have been reported since a magnitude 5.1 earthquake rattled Southern California on Friday night.

Most of the aftershocks have been small, but some were strong enough to be felt in the areas around the epicenter in northwestern Orange County.

Meanwhile, officials surveyed the damage, which for the most part was considered minor.

Fullerton police said early Saturday that as many as 50 people had been displaced by the quake. Several buildings are being investigated for possible structural damage, including some apartment buildings.
Photos: 5.1 quake rattles L.A., Orange County

The quake, centered near La Habra, caused furniture to tumble, pictures to fall off walls and glass to break. Merchandise fell off store shelves, and there were reports of shattered plate glass windows.

Residents across Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Inland Empire reported swinging chandeliers, fireplaces dislodging from walls and lots of rattled nerves.

The shake caused a rock slide in Carbon Canyon, causing a car to overturn, according to the Brea Police Department. Several people suffered minor injuries, officials said. Carbon Canyon Road was closed.

Fullerton reported seven water main breaks, and police received reports of windows shattering, but primarily had residents calling about burglar alarms being set off by the quake.

Third-grade teacher Barbara Castillo and her 7-year-old son had just calmed their nerves after an earlier 3.6 temblor and sat down in their La Habra home when their dogs started barking and the second, larger quake struck, causing cabinet doors to swing open, objects to fall off shelves and lights to flicker.

"It just would not stop, it was like an eternity," said Castillo, an 18-year La Habra resident.

At Disneyland in Anaheim, all rides were halted as a precaution but no damage or injuries were reported -- other than ceiling tiles falling in the police station, Sgt. Daron Wyatt said.

The first of a swarm of earthquakes hit the border of La Habra and Brea shortly after 8 p.m. with the 3.6 temblor. About an hour later, at 9:09 p.m., the 5.1 shock hit, followed by at least two more aftershocks in the magnitude-3 range in the next half hour. At least 20 aftershocks had been recorded by late Friday.

U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said the 5.1 quake has a 5% chance of being a foreshock of a larger temblor.

More, "5.1 earthquake hit on fault that caused deadly 1987 Whittier quake."

And at Fire Andrea Mitchell, "5.1 earthquake La Habra, California."