No injuries in California quake
2004-09-28 23:44
Los Angeles - A strong earthquake measuring 6.0 the Richter scale shook central California on Tuesday, but no immediate damage or injuries were reported, seismic monitors said.
The temblor struck 11km southeast of the town of Parkfield at 10:15 (17:15 GMT), the US geological survey (USGS) said.
The USGS upgraded the magnitude of the quake after shifting it between 5.9 and 6.0 in the immediate aftermath of the quake that struck along the notorious San Andreas fault.
The quake was felt as far afield as San Francisco, which lies 350km to the northwest of Parkfield, and was followed by a wave of smaller quakes measuring up to 5.0 on the Richter scale.
"It's a strong quake," said Dale Grant, a geophysicist with the national earthquake information centre in Golden, Colorado.
"It has been felt all the way up to Monterrey and Salinas," which lie south of San Francisco, he said.
More than 40 aftershocks measuring as much as 4.7 and 3.6 on the Richter scale shook the region that hugs the golden state's notorious San Andreas fault over the following 30 minutes, the USGS said.
Residents of the quake-prone region, which is shaken by a temblor measuring at least six on the Richter scale once every 22 years on average, said they felt the rumble coming deep from the ground.
The quake came nine months after a temblor measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale hit the same area of central California, sending one building crashing to the ground and killing two people in Paso Robles.
- AFP