From telegraph.co.uk:
There were reports of minor, scattered structural damage to buildings near the epicentre including dislodged masonry, damaged roofs and flooding.
There were also reports of a few injuries including one man who broke a leg running from his house as the quake hit. Other people became trapped in elevators.
The quake did not damage the region’s oil refineries, pipelines, nuclear plants and Los Angeles’s electrical grid although there were some local power cuts. Airports in the area were also open and operating normally, according to reports.
The 5.4 magnitude quake was centred near Chino Hills, some 30 miles south east of downtown Los Angeles, and was felt across much of Southern California and as far away as Las Vegas.
Eyewitnesses said the jolt, which lasted 10 to 15 seconds, caused tall buildings to sway and shake, windows and furniture to rattle and sent goods on supermarket shelves spilling to the floor.
The quake was swiftly followed by more than a dozen smaller aftershocks in the Chino Hills area, said the United States Geological Survey. The USGS estimated the initial quake was “pretty shallow by worldwide standards”, occurring about 8 miles below the earth’s surface.
“It will certainly cause cracked plaster and broken windows, but probably not structural damage,” said seismologist Kate Hutton, of the USGS office in Pasadena.
Businesses and tourist attractions swiftly evacuated staff and visitors as a precautionary measure immediately after the quake hit at 11.42am local time. At the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, south of Los Angeles, rides were shut down and inspected for damage.
