Los Angeles Earthquake Goes Till San Diego

A moderately powerful earthquake struck southern California few hours ago. Though originating from the Chino Hills, it shook buildings 30 miles away in Los Angeles.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake initially measured 5.8 on the Richter scale -- comparable to the aftershocks of the massive earthquake that hit central China in May.

Those aftershocks destroyed some 70,000 already-shaken and poorly-constructed buildings, but early anecdotal reports -- largely from users of social networking platform Twitter -- suggest that damage is minimal.

The USGS later downgraded the quake to 5.4 in magnitude.

The quake was not likely not produced by tectonic shifting underneath the the San Andreas fault, but the lesser-known Elsinore fault.

The USGS aftershock warning map is here. If you have a first-person account of the quake, or any advice useful for people in the area, comment away.

Update: Here's a Google Map mashup of seismic events.

Update Two: A drop to 5.4 from 5.8 on the Richter scale might not seem like much, but the scale is set on a base-10 logarithm: a 5.0 quake is ten times stronger than a 4.0, so a .4 drop is significant.