Malibu Earthquake of Magnitude-4.6 Shakes Southern California from Coast to Inland Areas

Strong shaking felt across various parts of Southern California, including the coast, downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, South Bay, Riverside, Orange counties, and beyond.

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A strong shaking occurred near Malibu on Friday afternoon, felt from the coast to inland areas in Southern California.

The earthquake hit shortly before 2 p.m., around 7 miles northwest of Malibu in the Santa Monica Mountains. Following the quake, there were over a dozen aftershocks, with the largest measuring magnitudes 3.0 and 2.7, all occurring in the same area.

Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert, mentioned there were numerous aftershocks following the quake. She also stated that the likelihood of a larger earthquake occurring soon is low.

Many people in and around Los Angeles felt shaking, possibly up to 12 million individuals. The quake was felt from the coasts of LA, Orange, and Ventura counties to areas like the San Fernando Valley, downtown LA, Riverside, Irvine, and Anaheim.

Mild shaking was felt in areas of north San Diego County.

Marla Dailey experienced the shaking while working at a dental office in Thousand Oaks.

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake has hit Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island.

There were no significant damages reported from the earthquake, initially estimated to be a magnitude 6.3.

Image Credit-PBS

Friday saw a magnitude 5.7 earthquake hitting Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. It caused items to fall off shelves and power outages in a nearby town, but there have been no reports of serious damage so far.

An earthquake, originally estimated at magnitude 6.3, hit Mauna Loa’s southern side near Pahala, without causing a tsunami. Derek Nelson, manager of Kona Canoe Club restaurant, described it as quite shaking, making knees wobble and rattling windows in the village.

About 300 customers in Naalehu lost power, likely due to the earthquake, according to Darren Pai, spokesperson for the Hawaiian Electric Company.

The earthquake occurred after 10 a.m. local time, just before a separate quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 struck Southern California.

Mauna Loa last erupted in late 2022. It’s one of the five volcanoes that make up the Big Island, which is the southernmost in the Hawaiian archipelago.

In Hawaii, earthquakes can occur due to various factors, such as movements of magma beneath the surface. On Friday, experts at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory suggested that the likely cause of the quake was the pressure exerted by the weight of the Hawaiian Islands on the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.

In 2006, a significant earthquake measuring 6.9 struck near Kiholo Bay on the northwest coast of the Big Island. It caused damage to roads and buildings and led to power outages as far as Honolulu, about 200 miles away on Oahu.

Helen Janiszewski, an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, explained that the Hawaiian Islands are located on the Pacific Ocean tectonic plate and are home to some of the world’s largest volcanoes.

“Because the islands have a lot of rock, they push down on the ocean floor, causing earthquakes,” she explained. “These earthquakes happen deep underground, in the mantle.”

Quakes caused by moving magma tend to occur closer to the surface, Janiszewski added.

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