Malibu residents felt the earth move under their feet as a 3.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Los Angeles area on Friday afternoon. The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the seismic event occurred north of Malibu around 2:15 p.m. with a depth of 9.6 km. Earlier reports, as cited by FOXLA, initially pegged the quake at a 3.5 magnitude before an upgrade was made roughly an hour later.
In a chilling reminder that the earth has stories it may choose at any moment to tell, this tremor follows on the heels of a flurry of seismic activity in the area. A previous earthquake rattled Malibu last month with a 4.7 magnitude, and its aftershocks were felt in regions stretching to the Inland Empire and the Central Valley, as CBS News Los Angeles reported. Friday's quake, by comparison, stands to barely make a dent in the public consciousness, given its lower magnitude.
The seismic episode continued with another, albeit smaller, tremor—measured at 1.8 in magnitude—about a half mile south at 2:26 p.m., according to the USGS's update. This reminds us of the seemingly random, yet terrifyingly precise, pattern of the earth's vibrations. As the day pushes forward into dusk, no damage or injuries have been reported, as per FOXLA.
