The new year began on Monday with a magnitude 4.1 earthquake in the Los Angeles, California area, the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) announced, with no casualties or damage reported so far.
An AFP photographer felt a “very slight” earthquake in Culver City, Los Angeles County, early this morning, enough to be woken up by the tremors.
Another also mentioned a “small” earthquake in Lawndale, closer to the epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, according to the USGS.
According to the USGS, the earthquake occurred 12 miles off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, about 50 miles from Los Angeles.
In December 2022, at least two people died in Northern California after a powerful earthquake off the American coast that caused landslides and cut off power to tens of thousands of people.
This western American country is regularly shaken by earthquakes. According to seismologists, it is almost certain that California will be hit by an earthquake capable of causing great destruction in the coming decades – the famous “Big One”.
The new year also began with earthquakes in Japan, where strong earthquakes caused significant damage.