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Small earthquake hits Los Angeles area

Other News Materials 9 August 2007 14:26 (UTC +04:00)

( Reuters ) - A small earthquake hit the northern Los Angeles area just before 1 a.m. ( 4 a.m. EDT) on Thursday, waking residents across a broad swathe of the area, but there were no immediate reports of significant damage.

The 4.5 preliminary magnitude quake was centered 4.1 miles ( 6.6 km) north-northwest of the suburb of Chatsworth, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was extremely shallow, at only 3 miles ( 5 km) deep.

Chatworth, the unofficial capital of the porn movie industry, is about 32 miles ( 51.5 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

Residents reported a strong jolt, followed by a lot of shaking. Some said pictures fell off walls, water sloshed around in toilets, and television sets wobbled on cabinets. A police spokesman said the quake triggered hundreds of alarms.

It was followed by two aftershocks, both with a preliminary 1.6 magnitude.

Chatsworth is just six miles ( 10 km) west of Northridge, the epicenter of the magnitude 6.7 quake that killed 57 people and injured more than 9,000 in 1994.

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