LOS ANGELES - A shallow magnitude-4.1 earthquake was reported Saturday afternoon 1 mile from Rowland Heights, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 2:32 p.m. at a depth of 5.6 miles.
The quake was centered not far from the epicenter of Friday’s magnitude-5.1 temblor in La Habra. There have been hundreds of aftershocks since then, but this one was the largest so far.
The magnitude-4.1 quake was felt across a large area of Southern California. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Across northern Orange County, officials were tallying moderate damage from Friday’s quake. Much of the damage was in La Habra, Fullerton and Brea.
Fire crews red-tagged 20 apartments in a building in Fullerton after finding a major foundation crack. Structural woes, including broken chimneys and leaning, were uncovered in half a dozen single-family houses, which were also deemed unsafe to occupy until building inspectors clear the structures. The damage displaced 83 residents.
The Red Cross opened a shelter in neighboring La Habra but closed it when the 38 people who stayed overnight returned home.
“Everything is starting to get settled down here,” said La Habra police Sgt. Mel Ruiz.
In Fullerton, some residents will have to stay elsewhere until building inspectors can check out the redtagged apartments and houses and give an all-clear, Fire Battalion Chief John Stokes said.
Another 14 residential structures around the citysuffered lesser damage.
U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones said there was a 5 percent chance of there being a foreshock of a larger temblor.
“There could be even a larger earthquake in the next few hours or the next few days,” Jones said during a media briefing at the California Institute of Technology soon after the magnitude-5.1 temblor.
Crews were working Saturday to repair broken water mains, leaking gas lines and other damage.
Damage from the shaking was scattered across the La Habra area, hitting houses, apartments and businesses as well as streetlights that were left dangling precariously.
“From 20 to 30 businesses suffered broken plate-glass windows, many of them along Whittier Boulevard,” La Habra police Sgt. David Crivelli said. “There were also some apartments with stucco damage and leaking water.”
At least seven 8-inch water mains were broken, leaving an estimated 100 homes and businesses without water Saturday morning, officials said.
In the middle of the intersection of Gilbert Street and Rosecrans in Fullerton, a crew armed with shovels, earth movers and stainless water-main clamps labored in a 12-by-20-foot hole 8 feet under the pavement.
“We have five leaks as big as this one in this area alone,” worker Ed McClain said. “None of us slept a wink last night. We’ll keep going until these problems are fixed.”
Swaths of Gilbert Street had also been undermined by gushing water, leaving bowlshaped depressions in the roadway. Among those left high and dry was Sarah Lee, director of a nearby college preparatory business.
“Let me show you what we’re dealing with,” she said, turning the handle of the bathroom sink faucet. “Nothing.”
Lee then tapped the toilet handle and frowned: “Nothing.”
In the nearby community of Brea, which is served by the Fullerton Fire Department, a broken water main caused “moderate to heavy damage” at City Hall, Stokes said.
It was not immediately clear if City Hall would reopen Monday. An email to the mayor was not immediately returned.
Cracks of up to 2 inches wide could be seen extending roughly 30 feet into the property and building.
A rock slide in the Carbon Canyon area of Brea also caused a car to overturn. The occupants had minor injuries, and the road remained closed to traffic.
Friday’s jolt was the strongest to strike the greater Los Angeles region since 2008. Southern California has been in a seismic lull since the deadly 1994 Northridge earthquake killed several dozen people and caused $25 billion in damage.
A day after the magnitude-5.1 quake, Peter Novahof went shopping with his family at a hardware store in Long Beach. Though nothing was knocked out of his place at his home, he figured it was a good time to think about securing his television and cupboards with glassware.
“We’ve had an earthquake drought for a while,” he said, and people are decorating their houses without taking into consideration that “we’re in earthquake zone.” Information for this article was contributed by Ken Schwencke of the Los Angeles Times and by Alicia Chang and Daisy Nguyen of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 03/30/2014