A magnitude-5 earthquake Thursday in Inyo County’s Coso Basin was California’s largest since July 6, the day of the 7.1 Ridgecrest quake.
The 1:49 p.m quake was among a cluster of quakes Thursday about 10 miles northwest of the epicenter of the Ridgecrest quake.
Every day since July 7, the area at the northern edge of the Mojave Desert has been rattled by at least a dozen quakes of magnitude 2 and 3. There have been 18 earthquakes of magnitude 4 in those 7½ weeks, but none of magnitude 5 until Thursday.
More than 1,100 people went to the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” website to report Thursday’s 5.0 quake. Most of those within 40 miles described the shaking as “light,” or 4 on a 10-point scale.
More than 50 reports came from the Las Vegas area, and a dozen from Orange County, up to 150 miles away.
