Los Angeles Earthquake, 4.7 Magnitude, Shakes Wide Area Of Southern California.


A modest earthquake left Southern California with the jitters Monday but no serious damage as the temblor caused swaying and rolling from the desert to the coast, sending children scrambling under their desks and office workers running for the door.

The 9:55 a.m. quake had an estimated magnitude of 4.7, said Nick Scheckel, seismic analyst at the California Institute of Technology's seismological laboratory in Pasadena.

The epicenter was about a dozen miles from the Riverside County desert community of Anza, about 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and it was felt strongly at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament happening in nearby Indian Wells.

The temblor, which occurred at a depth of eight miles, caused a swaying or rolling motion in Los Angeles and San Diego as well as in Orange and San Bernardino counties. It was sandwiched between several foreshocks and aftershocks.

'It kind of shook and then I thought, `God, is that an earthquake?'' said Susie Bride, a cashier at Cahuilla Mountain Market and Cafe in Anza. 'It kind of shook and then it rolled a little bit and then it shook again.'

There was no damage at the store, and authorities said there were no reports of damage or injuries in the region. Quakes of that magnitude are unlikely to do much harm to modern building.