Yuma locals react to 4.6 Baja California earthquake tremors

23 days ago

KOLD

YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — The 4.6 earthquake at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday wasn’t the alarm clock many in Yuma were hoping for, but it was a good reminder of how close California’s fault lines are.

A magnitude 4.6 earthquake was detected around 5 a.m. a few miles south of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. Yuma, which is just about 60 miles east of there, was identified as having tremors.

“It was kind of spooky. I was just getting ready, and I felt it shaking. I go, ‘Oh my god, something is going on,’” Matthew Ruiz, Yuma resident, said.

Many residents reported feeling light shaking, and no damages were reported.

The earthquake hit just south of the border in Baja California, Mexico. Tremors were felt in most of southwestern Arizona and reportedly as far north as Blythe, CA.

Fred Croxen, a geology professor at Arizona Western College, said Yuma is in a zone where seismic waves can be felt because it is so close to all the fault lines in southern California.

“Expect more earthquakes. It’s an active tectonic boundary between the North American Pacific Plates, except those plates are going to continue to move incrementally. The faults that are active there, are the Cerro Prieto Fault and the Imperial Fault which eventually links up with the San Andreas fault, are all active faults and have a history of big earthquakes,” said Croxen.

A map of the area within the tremor zone can be found here.

This is the second earthquake detected in the area in the last two months. A magnitude 4.9 earthquake was detected on May 12 in the same area. That one also could be felt near Yuma.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.