While the year 2024 began with a first earthquake in Japan, a second followed this Monday on the other side of the globe, in the Los Angeles region, California, announced the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) , without any casualties or damage having yet been reported.
An AFP photographer felt a “very slight” earthquake early in the morning in Culver City, Los Angeles County, enough to be awakened by the shaking. Another also mentioned a “small” earthquake in Lawndale, closer to the epicenter, located in the Pacific Ocean according to USGS. The earthquake occurred 12 miles off the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes, which is about 50 miles from Los Angeles, according to USGS.
The risk of the “Big One”
In December 2022, at least two people died in northern California after a powerful earthquake off the US coast, which caused landslides and cut power to tens of thousands of people.
This western American state is regularly shaken by earthquakes. According to seismologists, it is almost certain that an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction – the famous “Big One” – will strike California in the coming decades.