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New aftershock rattles Los Angeles

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AFP Los Angeles
A 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Los Angeles, a day after a similar seismic shock spooked the sprawling Californian metropolis.

The building housing AFP's office on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood swayed gently after the latest temblor, which hit at 2:32 pm local time, two kilometers southeast of the suburb of Rowland Heights.

The quake yesterday was initially reported as a 4.5 magnitude event before being revised down to 4.1 by the United States Geological Survey.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage following the temblor, which came less than 24 hours after the biggest earthquake to hit the Los Angeles area in six years.
 

Friday's 5.1 magnitude quake caused power cuts, gas leaks and burst water mains and halted rides at Disneyland.

No injuries were reported, but objects fell from shelves and furniture toppled over, according to photos posted on social media, while TV pictures showed a car flipped over by a rockslide.

Friday's quake followed one measuring 4.4 earlier this month.

The quake, which lasted up to half a minute, was preceded and followed by a number of smaller ones.

California has long braced for the "Big One."

The western US state is on the so-called Ring of Fire, which circles the Pacific and has produced a number of devastating quakes including Japan's March 2011 quake-tsunami, which killed thousands of people.

Seismologists say a quake capable of causing widespread destruction is 99 percent certain to hit California in the next 30 years.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake in 1994 in Northridge, north west of LA, left at least 60 people dead and caused an estimated $10 billion damage, while a 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 claimed the lives of 67 people.

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First Published: Mar 30 2014 | 7:10 AM IST

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