4.2 magnitude earthquake rattles the Inland Empire, no major damage reported

LYTLE CREEK, Calif. (KABC) -- A preliminary magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck the Lytle Creek area on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake's epicenter was located in the Cajon Pass, seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said on social media, "where the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults come together. In 1970, there was a M5.2 with a M4.0 foreshock in close to the same location."

After the quake occurred at 10:55 a.m., ABC7 viewers reported feeling the temblor in Riverside, Rialto, Hesperia, and as far away as Watts, Anaheim and downtown Long Beach.

"Yes felt it big time in Fontana!" Shari Solovich Parker wrote on Facebook. "Started as a slow roll then a huge noise and then ended with a strong jolt."

ABC7 has compiled a list of items that are important to have in your earthquake kit so that you're prepared for "the big one."

The San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County fire departments said there were no reports of injuries or structural damage in their respective jurisdictions.

The quake was originally measured at a magnitude of 4.6 before being downgraded to a 4.1 and then upgraded, the USGS said.

In an interview with ABC7 on Friday, Jones noted that "when we have a San Andreas earthquake, that's going to be one of our worst ones -- because the length of the fault is what determines the magnitude of an earthquake, the length it moves in the event. And the San Andreas is the longest fault in California, and therefore capable of the biggest earthquakes."

The San Andreas fault "is also the fastest moving," Jones said, "so, on average, it has these earthquakes more often. So, whenever something happens near the San Andreas, we take notice."

A report published in 2008, titled The Shakeout Scenario," sought to "to identify the physical, social and economic consequences of a major earthquake in Southern California."

"We modeled it as a 7.8, so about a 200-mile section of the fault moving," Jones said. The report estimated that such a quake would result in 1,800 deaths and $213 billion in economic losses.

"It was creating that that led to the creation of the Shakeout Drill," Jones said.