7.2-Magnitude Quake in Baja California Felt on West Coast
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
LOS ANGELES - A powerful earthquake just southeast of Tijuana shook southern California Sunday afternoon, damaging buildings in border towns and rattling a seismically-sophisticated population as far north as Los Angeles and Phoenix.
Chandeliers swayed, homes shook and the earth seemed to slide under the feet of people emerging from Easter church services for well over a minute as the quake rocked states in Mexico and the United States.
The 7.2 quake struck just after at 3:30 p.m. local time, and was centered 16 miles south-southwest of Guadalupe Victoria in Baja California, Mexico, and about 108 miles east-southeast of Tijuana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Carlton Hargrave, 64, was standing in the entryway of Family Style Buffet in Calexico, a California border town, when the quake hit. His restaurant, he said in a telephone interview, was "almost completely destroyed. We’ve got tables overturned, plates broken on the floor.”
“The ceilings caved in. It was big, I mean, it was major," he said this in a shaky voice, with the sound of his feet crunching rubble and glass and plate fragments.
Reports from the remote area in Mexico where the quake hit were slow in coming and Mexican websites were overloaded in the two hours following the shaking, but an earthquake of that size would likely cause major property damage and possible injuries to anything or anyone near its epicenter.
A reporter in Tijuana for the newspaper Frontera who did not want to give his name said there were no reports of damage or injury there but reporters were awaiting definitive word from the authorities.
El Imparcial, a newspaper in the state of Sonora, south of Arizona, reported cracks in condominium buildings in Mexicali and burst pipes but the damage did not appear severe.
The shaking was particularly acute in San Diego, where the quake set off several alarms and sent the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department out on several calls, according to the San Diego Union. Tribune’s website.
“We have some reports of scattered property damage,” Ramona Hastings, a sergeant assigned to the watch command at the San Diego Police Department, said in a telephone interview. Among the reports were several burst pipes, including at least one under a house, and damage to a three-story apartment building.
In Los Angeles, homes slid from side to side for well over a minute, a nauseating and seemingly endless wave that could be felt from the beach to the Hollywood Hills. Twitter was quickly filled with reports from the border to Phoenix to Los Angeles.
“People were outside crying because the beams looked like they were going to collapse and a wall cracked (along with various things falling) and the power went out in some parts,” read one Tweet from Calexico. In Imperial, California, another border city, Eslibonita tweeted, “It’s still going.... My dresser fell on my and half of my fish tank’s water is on my carpet.”
The earthquake occurred about 20.1 miles below the earth’s surface, the geological survey said. Experts have said that such a depth increases the chances that the earth might absorb a majority of the shock, reducing the chances of damage on the surface. A 6.9 earthquake can cause major damage in structures, crack the ground and shift foundations.
At least five possible aftershocks were reported, including a 4.5-magnitude quake 62 miles east of Tijuana, reported at 4:09 p.m., and a 5.1-magnitude quake near Imperial, Calif., at 4:15 p.m. A 3.8-magnitude quake was also reported 12 miles northwest of Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. at 4:19 p.m. A 3.6-magnitude quake was reported 7 miles northeast of Julian, Calif., at 4:22 p.m.. A 4.3-magnitude quake was reported 15 miles west-southwest of Calixico, Calif., at 4:34 p.m., and a 4.7-magnitude quake was reported 14 miles south-southwest of Mexicali, Baja California in Mexico, at 4:37 p.m.
Emergency officials urged residents to contact each other using text messages in order to keep cellphone signals clear for emergency workers responding to distress calls.
A viewer told CNN that their boat in San Diego Harbor began rocking from the quake and that pilings began shaking for several seconds.
The quake quickly affected other areas. In Century City, KABC-TV reported that a woman was trapped in an elevator in Century City. And at the LAX Airport, some passengers told CNN that they had felt rumbling and were worried that flights might be delayed.
People in Arizona and Nevada reported feeling the quakes. “My family and I live in Gilbert, Arizona, and we could feel the house shake and our pool was sloshing against its sides,” said Donald Whiting. “I’m not sure how far we are from the epicenter, but it’s no surprise Los Angeles felt this one.”
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