Quake Gives California a New Reason to Hate 2020

A 4.5-magnitude temblor struck near Los Angeles late Friday and triggered fears of a bigger California quake, Newsweek reports. Centered near El Monte in eastern LA County, the shaking reached south to San Diego and north to Valencia. No major damage or injuries were reported from the 11:38pm quake, per the LA Times, but KABC notes that its type and location were similar to the 1987 Whittier Narrows quake that hit magnitude 5.9 and killed 8 people. While this one triggered at least two aftershocks, seismologist Lucy Jones said there's just a 5% chance of it sparking a bigger quake, and later tweeted that the risk will fall to 1% by Saturday evening. The quake also inspired memorable tweets including:

• Tim Chantarangsu: "Maybe these fires and earthquakes is [sic] just California's way of scaring off everyone that moves to LA and complains about it all day."
• Ken Klippenstein: "The earthquake was god warning us about the deficit."
• Whitney Cummings: "No do not use this earthquake as an opportunity to text your ex—he's fine."
• Bebe Rexha: "Woke up from the #earthquake I'm like shaking I dunno what’s up with me. I was expecting it to be a bad one. Hope you are all safe. Love you."

(More earthquake stories.)