M 4.4 Quake Rocks Malibu

BY ANNE SOBLE

Malibu and the surrounding areas were rocked by a minor earthquake and subsequent aftershock last Friday evening.
The first event was a magnitude 4.4 temblor (a quake below 5.5 is catagorized as minor) that struck at 6:11.13 p.m., according to United States Geological Survey seismologists who put the epicenter seven miles north of Leo Carrillo State Beach and six miles south of Westlake Village in the Santa Monica Mountains.
According to USGS, the quake was determined to have occurred at a depth of 8.6 miles, possibly in one of the unnamed faults that crosses the Santa Monicas and connects to the Malibu fault that runs along the coastline on the ocean floor.
The second shaker, a magnitude 3.1 aftershock, registered at 10:34:14 p.m. in the same area, but closer to the surface at a depth of 4.2 miles.