California Hit With Second, Stronger Earthquake in Less Than a Week

A second earthquake equipped with an aftershock rattled the Bay Area on the heels of Monday's milder earthquake felt in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, a 4.4-magnitude quake with a 4.3 aftershock a minute later hit Santa Rosa, California, at 6:30 p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

It comes just a day after a "small" 2.6 magnitude earthquake was felt in Canoga Park, California, roughly 430 miles southeast of Santa Rosa, even though the USGS said earthquakes usually aren't felt if they're less than a 2 magnitude on the Richter scale. A quake is considered "small" when its magnitude is between 3 and 3.9, so Monday's quake falls short of qualifying as "small".

USGS said earthquakes typically don't cause damage until they have a 4 or 5 magnitude, such as the Tuesday earthquake—and its 4.3-magnitude afterschok—that hit Santa Rosa.

A USGS seismologist told Newsweek that no damage was reported to the organization but a "significant amount" of people reported feeling the quake. The Santa Rosa Fire Department tweeted that there were no reported injuries, but it did respond to gas leaks and stuck elevators. Photos showed items fallen off shelves, cracked walls and various other damage.

With three earthquakes already reported this week, West Coasters are likely to wonder if more are in store.

On Tuesday, seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones tweeted that every earthquake has a small chance of being followed by a larger earthquake within the next three days.

"Every quake has a 5% chance of being followed by a larger quake within the next 3 days. But most are only a little bit larger," the tweet said. "When it is right on a big fault, capable of a big quake, the chance that that following earthquake will be big is a little higher, but still small."

Santa Rosa's earthquake occurred along the Rodgers Creek fault line. According to Jones, big fault line earthquakes have higher chances of being followed by another quake that is just as big or a little higher. In another tweet, Jones explained that the Rodgers Creek fault is part of the San Andreas system.

"The last big earthquake on it was in the 18th century," Jones tweeted.

Jones also calmed fears that a tsunami might follow the 4.4-magnitude earthquake. She tweeted that tsunamis shouldn't be expected at an earthquake of that magnitude and that tsunamis also don't usually occur when an earthquake happens on land.

The Weather Channel reported that residents were alerted about the impending quake 18 seconds before it happened because of a nation's new ShakeAlert system, an earthquake early warning system that monitors for strong quakes and issues alerts to nearby residents.

East Bay Times reported that the system alerted residents with a loud alarm and instructions warning them to take cover. Journalist Sarah Stierch tweeted that the alert sent her diving under her kitchen table, although she didn't end up feeling any shakes from the earthquake.

Some more vulnerable residents closer to the earthquake's epicenter didn't receive alerts. East Bay Times reported that's because that alert system can issue warnings before shakes are felt for those further from the epicenter, but that people closest to the quake may not receive the alerts until after the shaking begins.