Tuesday, June 15, 2010

5.7 Earthquake in San Diego

An earthquake of 5.7 with an epicenter five miles east-southeast of Ocotillo, a desert town, jolted the region at 9:26 p.m. on Monday. The earthquake was felt by the people and they were frightened and came out of their houses in San Diego County according to USGC. This was an after shock to the 7.2 Easter Sunday Quake at Mexicali. The jolt caused a pause in the baseball game between San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays at Petco Park down town San Diego.

According to the latest reports, there are no reports of any damage done due to this earth quake which was observed from Carpenteria to Ensenada. According to experts, the series of earthquakes are the continuations or a sequence of aftershocks of the major earth quakes which started two months ago. But this series of aftershocks have made the people apprehensive and tense as people run out of their buildings even if they feel a slight tremor now.

All schools and other educational institutions will remain closed in Mexicali on Tuesday as a precautionary measure. The authorities will have inspections of school buildings to evaluate any damage done to them as there are many buildings that have been damaged due to earlier earthquakes according to Alejandro Contreas, a spokesman for the Baja California government in Mexicali.

Monday’s earthquake has led to numerous aftershocks including three that had the magnitude from 4 to 4.5. The 5.7 magnitude earthquake had the depth of 4.3 miles below the earth’s crust. “This is a big aftershock to the Easter Sunday quake, so it has all the dangers of any quake this size,” said Bob Dollar, a seismologist at USGS.