essential
The earthquake hit the south of the US state, not far from the city of San Diego. According to the authorities, no one injured is for the moment to deplore.
According to American authorities, a powerful earthquake struck the southern California state on Monday, April 14.
The epicenter of this magnitude 5.2 earthquake is located near Julian, a small town just over an hour’s drive from San Diego, according to the American Geophysical Institute (USGS).
“It is unlikely that there are victims and damage,” said the USGS in an initial report. “Overall, the population of this region lies in structures that resist seismic tremors, although there are vulnerable structures.” The earthquake was strong enough to make the balance of certain residents of Orange, in southern California, lose balance, according to the first testimonies collected by AFP.
The fear of “big one”
earthquakes are frequent in the “Golden State” because the west coast of the United States is located at the crossroads of several tectonic plates of the earth. Many residents still remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994, which had killed dozens in the Los Angeles region, thousands of injured, and caused millions of dollars in damages.
In 2024, California recorded an unprecedented seismic activity for several decades, according to seismologists. Several moderate earthquakes have shaken the nerves of certain inhabitants, which fear the “big one”. But according to scientists, these medium -scale earthquakes are not heralding a disaster in preparation. For a century of seismological observation, “no one has observed statistically significant patterns before large earthquakes occurred”, recalled in early October the seismologist Susan Hough in Los Angeles Times.
The Californian authorities took advantage of this revival of activity to remind the inhabitants that they must be ready to react, taking hold under the tables and far from the windows in the event of an earthquake. They also recommend that they always have a prepared emergency bag, with water, non -perishable foods, pocket lamps, a portable radio and a emergency kit.
