Magnitude 5.2 earthquake strikes Kern County, with shaking felt throughout SoCal

KERN COUNTY, Calif. (KABC) -- A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck in Kern County Tuesday night, with significant shaking felt throughout Southern California.

The quake struck at 9:09 p.m. southwest of Lamont, in a remote area of Central California near the Kern Lake Bed and Maricopa Flat at a depth of 7 miles.

It was followed by at least two dozen aftershocks - many of them measuring 3.0 or higher in the Lamont and Grapevine areas, according to USGS data.

A USGS map indicates shaking was felt as far north as Fresno and as far south as southern Orange County, and east out to the Inland Empire and Victorville.



First responders in Los Angeles and other areas were conducting assessments of damage and their initial reports did not turn up any major issues with critical infrastructure.



The CHP said two left lanes of the southbound I-5 Freeway south of Grapevine Road were closed because of a large boulder in the roadway. Emergency crews cleared the boulder shortly after midnight.

People driving through the Grapevine corridor were advised to proceed with caution as other hazards, like tree branches, rocks and debris, may have fallen onto the roadway.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services said state and local first responders were monitoring the impacts from the quake.

In Bakersfield, security video captured the moment the earthquake caused several items to fall off a liquor store's shelves.



Footage from the Verdugo Market and liquor store, in the community of Mettler, shows people inside running as soon as they felt the shaking.



Some users of California's early alert app reported receiving warnings before they felt shaking. The warnings typically read: "Emergency Alert. Earthquake Detected! Drop, Cover, Hold On. Protect Yourself."

The system is designed to detect quakes at their epicenter and send out electronic warnings faster than the shaking can radiate outward through the ground.

The USGS estimate of magnitude for Tuesday's quake was adjusted several times within the first hour after it struck, with the initial estimate of 5.7 later downgraded to 5.3 and then 5.2.

Previous massive quake in Kern County

Earthquake expert Lucy Jones said the quake did not occur on a known fault that is already mapped in the USGS database.



She said that area of the state has had major earthquakes in the past. The biggest was the 1952 Kern County earthquake, also sometimes referred to as the Tehachapi quake. The 7.5 magnitude quake killed a dozen people and injured hundreds more.



It was considered the biggest the country had seen since the 1906 quake that leveled much of San Francisco.



"It led to a lot of changes in our earthquake policy because it did so much damage," Jones said. "It did quite a bit of damage in Los Angeles even though it was up there."

It was followed by a number of aftershocks in the subsequent days, and then a much higher frequency of quakes in the region well into the 1980s.

"So those aftershocks continued for 40 years," she said.

Jones said as with any quake, there is a 5% chance of something bigger following.

"The risk of it being a foreshock drops rapidly with time. One quarter of all foreshocks are within an hour of their main shock," she said. "By the time we get to three days out... essentially the risk will be all gone."