Magnitude 7.2 quake hits Baja California
LOS ANGELES -- A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake near the Mexico-U.S. border on Sunday rocked buildings as far away as Los Angeles and was felt in a wide area in the two countries, officials said.
The US Geological Survey said the quake, which struck at 3:40 p.m. PST, at a depth of 32.3 kilometers, was located 26 kilometers south-southwest of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico.
It was 64 kilometers southwest of San Luis, in the US state of Arizona, the USGS added.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said its initial assessment found "no significant damage or injuries" but had responded to an increase in automatic alarms and stuck elevators.
The fire department said was checking transportation infrastructures, large places of assemblage, apartment buildings and power lines from the ground and the air to ensure safety.
The temblor was forceful enough to move buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego in southern California, as well as in Arizona, The Los Angeles Times reported.
The Times said rides were temporarily closed at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim.
KABC Television in Los Angeles said high-rise buildings in that city and in San Diego rocked back and forth when the quake hit.
The report said Los Angeles City Fire Department crews were responding to people trapped in stalled elevators in the city, but there were no reports of serious damage, power outages or injuries in Los Angeles.
The Yuma, Arizona, sheriff's department also told AFP it was responding to many building alarms but that it had no immediate reports of injuries.
In Mexico, the National Seismological Institute said it had no early reports of injuries or damage in the northwestern state.
An agency official, Adriana Gonzalez, said that people had reported feeling the quake across a wide area of Baja California and Sonora states.
The USSG said it had reports that quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas, Nevada, some 460 kilometers from the epicenter as well as in Los Angeles, 360 kilometers away, and in Phoenix, Arizona, 300 kilometers away.
A strong earthquake south of the U.S.-Mexico border Sunday swayed high-rises in downtown Los Angeles and San Diego and was felt across Southern California and Arizona, but there were no immediate reports of major damage.
The 7.2 magnitude quake, originally reported as a 6.9, struck at 3:40 p.m. in Baja California, Mexico, about 19 miles southeast of Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The area was hit by magnitude-3.0 quakes all week.
Seismologists upgraded the magnitude of the earthquake Sunday evening. U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones says the new magnitude is still an estimate.
USGS seismologist Susan Potter said the quake was felt as far north as Santa Barbara.
Strong shaking was reported in the Coachella Valley and Riverside, Calif. The earthquake rattled buildings on the west side of Los Angeles and in the San Fernando Valley, interrupting Easter dinners.
NPR's Jason DeRose says chandeliers and curtains were swaying at his home near Los Angeles.
"This was quite a shaker here in Los Angeles," says DeRose. "It was sort of a rolling motion that we felt here. For us to be able to experience something like that, more than 200 miles away from the epicenter, must have been quite, quite a powerful earthquake."
The Los Angeles Fire Department went on "earthquake status," and some stalled elevators were reported. No damage was reported in Los Angeles or San Diego.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power says there are no power outages anywhere in the city, spokeswoman Maryanne Pierson said.
Some Californians posted Internet video of water sloshing out of their pools for at least 40 seconds or more.
A 5-point-1 magnitude aftershock hit a half-hour after the quake, near the town of Imperial, Calif.
The quake was felt for about 40 seconds in Tijuana, Mexico, causing buildings to sway and knocking out power in parts of the city. Families celebrating Easter ran out of the homes, with children screaming and crying.
Baja California state Civil Protection Director Alfredo Escobedo said there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. But he said the assessment was ongoing.
In the Phoenix area, Jacqueline Land said her king-sized bed in her second-floor apartment felt like a boat gently swaying on the ocean.
"I thought to myself, 'That can't be an earthquake. I'm in Arizona,' " the Northern California native said. "And I thought, 'Oh my God, I feel like I'm 9 years old.' "
A police dispatcher in Yuma, Ariz., said the quake was very strong there, but no damage was reported. The Yuma County Sheriff's Office had gotten a few calls, mostly from alarm companies because of alarms going off.
Mike Wong, who works at a journalism school in downtown Phoenix, said he was in his second-floor office getting some work done Sunday afternoon when he heard sounds and felt the building start to sway.
"I heard some cracking sounds, like Rice Krispies," coming from the building, he said. "I didn't think much of it, but I kept hearing it, and then I started feeling a shake. I thought, 'You know what? I think that might be an earthquake."
Wong said the swaying lasted for "just a few seconds," and he didn't notice any damage.
An earthquake also hit in Northern California on Sunday afternoon. The U.S. Geological Survey says a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.0 was recorded at 3:49 p.m. about 25 miles north of Santa Rosa.
A dispatcher with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department said the agency had not received any calls for service after the quake.
Sismo de 6,9 grados Richter afecta a México y Estados Unidos
El USGS comunicó que el movimiento se sintió con fuerza en Los Angeles y San Diego, además de todo el sur de California y Arizona.
Un fuerte terremoto con epicentro al sur de la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México sacudió a Los Angeles y San Diego y se sintió en todo el sur de California y en Arizona.
El Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS) informó que el sismo de magnitud 6,9 en la escala de Richter afectó a Baja California, México, un área que ha registrado sismos de 3 grados durante toda la semana.
El terremoto sacudió además edificios en la parte oeste de Los Angeles y en el Valle de San Fernando.
No hubo reportes iniciales de daños en el área de San Diego
