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A 4.3 magnitude earthquake was reported Friday night shortly before 8 p.m. in Carson, according to the US Geological Survey.
The earthquake produced tremors considered moderate on the Mercalli Modified Intensity Scale over large swathes of Carson, Torrance, Wilmington, Gardena and Compton. Such moderate shaking can break dishes and windows and tip unstable objects.
Light to weak tremors were felt in the Los Angeles Basin, Orange County, and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.
The earthquake was centered in Carson and caused the loss of power at the Marathon Petroleum refinery at 223rd Street and Wilmington Avenue, according to Jamal Kheiry, a spokesperson for the company. As a result, the refinery began flaring to burn off excess gases, which lit up the night sky and raised concern among residents of Carson and beyond.
“Flares are safety devices and flares work as intended. There are no injuries or offsite impact, ”Kheiry told The Times in an email. LA County firefighters were first summoned to the refinery around 8 p.m., but refinery officials then called and canceled.
“Everything that happens is normal procedure,” said expedition supervisor Jeremy Stafford.
The earthquake occurred less than a mile from West Carson, a mile from Los Angeles, two miles from Torrance, and two miles from Long Beach, where a low rumble was felt across the city.
Along the promenade in downtown Long Beach, the shake left strands of light above their heads swaying as crowds checked their phones for information.
“You all felt the earthquake, didn’t you?” A man asked as he stepped out of his apartment complex. “I didn’t know if it was just the brownies that worked.”
The shock lasted about 15 seconds, the time to remove any doubt about the cause of the vibration.
Seismologist Lucy Jones told KCBS-TV that the quake “doesn’t look abnormal at all.”
“This size occurs on average somewhere in Southern California every two months,” she told the TV station. “When it’s in the middle of the Los Angeles Basin, a lot more people feel it and it becomes bigger news.”
As soon as they realized their lives were not in imminent peril, Southern Californians quickly turned to a popular local pastime: the Twitter earthquake.
At 8:30 p.m., #earthquake was the # 1 trending topic in the US, as people across Southland reached out for their phones to riffle.
Many users shared their observations of the shaking, while others logged in just to let their followers know they had been feeling it too – often with a “mandatory #earthquake tweet”.
“I felt this earthquake,” comedian Rosie O’Donnell tweeted to her 1.2 million followers, making hers one of the most prominent accounts to weigh in on the tremors.
In the past 10 days, there have been two earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or greater centered nearby, and in the Los Angeles area, an average of five earthquakes with a magnitude between 4.0 and 5.0 occur per year.
Find out what to do before and during an earthquake near you by signing up for our Unshaken newsletter, which breaks down emergency preparedness into small steps over six weeks. Learn more about seismic kits, the apps you need, top tips from Jones, and more at latimes.com/Unshaken.
Times editors Luke Money and Julia Wick contributed to this report.
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