Compton Earthquake Rattles the Los Angeles Area

Jill Cowan

October 19, 2019 1:37 AM

(California Today)

Compton Earthquake Rattles the Los Angeles Area

On Thursday, officials around California marked the 30th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which killed 63 people, injured thousands, collapsed a span of freeway and crumbled buildings.

Some, like Mayor London Breed of San Francisco, participated in drills as part of a statewide effort to get kids prepared.

And then, early Friday morning, residents in the Los Angeles area received a real-life reminder of the threat when a magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck Compton, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There was no significant structural damage reported.

Also on Thursday, there was praise for the release of a new earthquake early warning app.

Alex Padilla, California’s secretary of state — who as a state senator wrote the 2013 bill starting the process of developing the app — said that the United States had for too long lagged other countries in adopting a system that could save lives. But he was pleased that’s no longer the case.

“When the next big earthquake strikes, every second of advance notice will matter,” he said in a statement.

The Compton quake, however, was not the Big One, and was too small to trigger a warning on the app.

Meanwhile, movement has been detected for the first time on the Garlock fault in Southern California, which experts say is capable of producing an 8.0 quake. But they cautioned it’s impossible to say whether that movement portends a temblor.

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Jill Cowan