Aftershocks Rattle Mexico-California Region Hit by Quake

Aftershocks Rattle Mexico-California Region Hit by Quake
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
Copyright by The Associated Press
Published: April 5, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/us/06quake.html?th&emc=th


LOS ANGELES — A powerful earthquake southeast of Tijuana shook Southern California on Sunday afternoon, damaging buildings in northern Mexico and border cities in California and Arizona and rattling a seismically sophisticated population as far north as Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Chandeliers swayed, homes shook and the earth seemed to slide under the feet of people emerging from Easter church services for well over a minute. Three strong aftershocks with magnitudes of about 5.0 jolted Baja California, Mexico, early Monday morning, according to the United States Geological Survey, but there were no reports of additional damage.

The 7.2-magnitude quake struck just after 3:30 p.m. local time Sunday, and was centered 16 miles southwest of Guadalupe Victoria in Baja, and about 110 miles southeast of Tijuana, said the United States Geological Survey.

The quake killed two people in northern Mexico. Alfredo Escobedo, the Baja California state civil protection director, told the Associated Press that one man was killed in a house collapse outside Mexicali. He said the other man was killed when he panicked as the ground shook, ran into the street and was struck by a car. At least another 100 people were injured, most from falling objects, he said.

Mexicali, a large industrial city near the quake’s epicenter was reported to have suffered widespread blackouts, along with fires, gas leaks and phone line damage. Photographs posted on Twitter and some news sites showed buildings with crumbled facades and food on supermarket shelves sent crashing to the floor. Mr. Escobedo said a multistory parking structure collapsed at the Mexicali city hall but no one was injured.

Across the border from Mexicali in Calexico, Calif., police sealed off the downtown area, which is lined with buildings built in the 1930s and 40s. Broken glass and plaster littered some sidewalks and goods in several stores had been scattered across the floor.

A police officer said the City Council had declared a state of emergency. Some traffic lights were out, and in at least one hotel television sets were flung to the floor and lamps toppled over but the electricity was on and damage did not seem widespread and there were no reports of casualties.

Carlton Hargrave, 64, was standing in the entryway of Family Style Buffet when the quake hit. His restaurant, he said in a telephone interview, was “almost completely destroyed.”

“We’ve got tables overturned, plates broken on the floor, the ceiling’s caved in,” Mr. Hargrave said with a shaky voice over the sound of his feet crunching rubble and glass. “It was big. I mean, it was major.”

Reports from the remote area in Mexico where the quake hit were slow in coming. But an earthquake of that size would probably cause major property damage near the epicenter, experts said.

“In a 7.2, you are going to experience a lot of shaking,” said Morgan Page, a geophysicist with the Geological Survey. “So it would be surprising if there wasn’t a lot of damage. Mexico does have many vulnerable structures.”

Postings on Twitter told of people in shock in Mexico as well as in southern California.

“People were outside crying because the beams looked like they were going to collapse and a wall cracked (along with various things falling) and the power went out in some parts,” read one report from Calexico.

In the United States, the shaking was particularly acute in San Diego, where it set off alarms and sent the San Diego fire department responding to several calls, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

“We have some reports of scattered property damage,” Sgt. Ramona Hastings of the San Diego Police Department said in a telephone interview.

At a Sheraton hotel in downtown San Diego, the floor cracked opened and prevented the front doors from shutting. Officials ordered all guests and staff from the building, pending an inspection from structural engineers. Fire officials reported a water main break in front of a hospital and another water line break at a department store.

“There’s scattered stuff all over the place,” said Maurice Luque, a spokesman for the San Diego fire department. “There’s nothing colossal.”

Even for California residents who are veterans of previous and more punishing earthquakes, the temblor was impressive.

“House was shaking. Pic fell off bookcase. Lasted about 30 seconds. Worst I’ve felt here since Northridge,” Timothy Nash said in a Twitter message from San Diego.

The Northridge earthquake of Jan. 17, 1994 — a 6.7-magnitude temblor that was centered in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Reseda — lasted for about 20 seconds but proved to be one of the most devastating natural disasters to hit the United States. There were 72 deaths attributed to the quake, and it caused an estimated $20 billion in damage.

Initial reports indicated that Sunday’s earthquake, while bigger in magnitude, caused nowhere near the damage.

While this earthquake exceeded the numerical magnitude of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti earlier this year, the damage there was far greater because the epicenter was near the heavily populated capital city, Port-au-Prince.

The Baja earthquake was the largest in a series that have taken place in the region that presages it, beginning with a 4.2 quake on March 31. It was followed by strong aftershocks.

In Los Angeles, homes slid from side to side for well over a minute, a nauseating and seemingly endless wave that could be felt from the beach to the Hollywood Hills. Power failures caused by the temblor were reported in Yuma, Ariz.

Emilio Magaña, 39, a priest at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Calipatria, Calif., had just finished a morning of Easter services at different locations around rural Imperial County and was napping in his church in the middle of lettuce and carrot fields when the quake struck.

“I awoke to my bed shaking and heard some pictures from the walls falling down,” he said. “My nerves were a little rattled because it was a long earthquake. It lasted almost 2 minutes. It was one very long one, then short temblors. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Reporting was contributed by Randal C. Archibold from Calexico, Calif., and Rebecca Cathcart from Los Angeles, Brian Stelter from New York, Rob Davis from San Diego, and Elisabeth Malkin from Mexico City.