Southern California Rattled by 4.3 Magnitude Earthquake

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake quivered through the city of Los Angeles and neighboring areas of California on September 17.

The earthquake rattled through southern California around 8:00 p.m. Carson, California, situated just south of downtown Los Angeles ,was the epicenter of the earthquake. The radius of the earthquake reached as far south as San Diego, as far east as Riverside, and as far north as Lancaster.

Seismologist Lucy Joens informed KCAL-TV 9 that “the rate at which we’re having earthquakes doesn’t look abnormal at all, but you know if you’ve gone anytime without them you tend to forget that they really are a regular occurrence.” He added

Every earthquake has a 5% chance of being followed by something larger, so for the next day we’ve got a slightly increased risk of having another earthquake in the same area. Earthquakes don’t trigger other earthquakes farther away. Right where it happened, there’s a 5% chance which means there’s a 95% chance we won’t have a bigger earthquake.

Many became concerned after Marathon Petroleum Refinery in Carson began spouting flames after the earthquake, but Jamal Kheiry, a spokesperson for the company, explained that the refinery lost power and it is standard procedure to burn off excess gas after an earthquake.

“Flares are safety devices and the flares are functioning as intended. There are no injuries or off-site impact,” Kheiry wrote in an email to the LA Times. Dispatch Supervisor Jeremy Stafford explained, “Whatever is going on is a normal procedure.”

In the past 10 days, there have been two earthquakes in the Los Angeles area that registered above 3.0 magnitude. The state averages five earthquakes between the magnitudes of 4.0 and 5.0 each year. 

No lives were lost and no one was injured during the earthquake. Additionally, no damage has been reported.

Last month, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti and neighboring countries in the Caribbean.