MALIBU—A magnitude 3.6 earthquake occurred near Point Mugu State Park in Malibu on Wednesday, June 12 at about 5:07 p.m.
Seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said in a tweet that, “The M3.6 quake near Camarillo is deep, 11 miles down, so no one was very near to it and thus no one was strongly shaken. It’s located near, perhaps on, the Anacapa fault, part of the system pushing up the Santa Monica Mountains.”
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake was felt in several cities throughout Ventura County. The city of Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, and Camarillo all felt light shaking on Wednesday.
According to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale, magnitude two through three earthquakes are felt by few people who are mostly indoors and are located on the upper floors of buildings. Many people experiencing these types of earthquakes do not recognize them as earthquakes because their vibrations are similar to the passing of a truck on the street.
There is some speculation that the earthquake that transpired could possibly be a sign of a larger earthquake coming to the Los Angeles area. There have been earthquakes felt all throughout the Southern California area in the last month and it has left some wondering if the “Big One” is on the rise.
“The long term average for SoCal (south of 36.5 deg) is 80-100 sequences with at least 1 M3 or bigger per year. That’s an average of 7-9 per month. The last month has had 8. Looks pretty normal to me,” said Dr. Jones via Twitter.
