No reports of injury or damage after Surf City earthquake

Jose Paul Corona

A magnitude-2.9 earthquake shook Surf City at 4:26 on Monday

morning.

The quake originated 11.7 miles beneath the Earth’s surface in

Huntington Beach, according to Caltech and the U.S. Geological

Survey. Its epicenter was four miles west-northwest of Newport Beach

and five miles southeast of Bolsa Chica State Beach.

Huntington Beach Police Sgt. Gary Meza said he felt the tremor,

but there were no reports of any injuries or damage.

The Newport-Inglewood Rose Canyon fault runs under the city

somewhat parallel to the coast. There is no way to tell, however, if

the quake originated from that fault, said Anthony Guarino, seismic

analyst at Caltech.

“Without any surface rupture we would not be able to tell,”

Guarino said. “The magnitude of this quake is such that no surface

rupture would occur.”

Various environmentally sensitive areas, such as wetlands, are

near the fault line but there is no way to determine if life there

has been affected, he said.

There have been other earthquakes of this magnitude near the

wetlands in the past.

Monday’s quake was felt from Cypress to Garden Grove, up to Long

Beach and Bellflower and south to Newport Beach, Guarino added.

Linda Moon, president of Amigos de Bolsa Chica felt the quake, but

isn’t worried about it affecting the wetlands.

“A quake of that intensity wouldn’t create that much damage,” she

said.

While there weren’t any damage reports, Moon said that if

construction were to take place at the wetlands, specifically on the

mesa, earthquake damage could be significant.

“We seriously underestimate the proximity with living close to

earthquake faults,” she said.

The last significant earthquake in Southern California was a

5.1-magnitude quake in Anza on Oct. 30, 2001, according to the U.S.

Geological Survey.