Maybe you felt it. People on much of the the Central and South Coasts did when a magnitude 5.3 earthquake centered in the Channel Islands rocked the region Thursday afternoon. No injuries or serious damage has been reported from the 12:39 p.m. quake, which had an epicenter 30 kilometers southwest of Santa Cruz Island.
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones says there are a number of faults in the area where the quake was centered. She says because of where the quake occurred, there was no tsunami danger.
The only damage was reported to a chimney on the Nature's Conservancy's ranch on Santa Cruz Island, with some bricks falling off of it. It did trigger some small landslides on the island, with the crew of a boat from Island Packers seeing some slides, and clouds of dust along the coast.
Dr. Jones says we can expect some aftershocks, especially in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. She says a quake of this magnitude happens about once a year in Southern California.
