Mexicali Earthquake Felt in Pasadena, California

My wife and a friend were in our dining room, one of our sons was in our family room and I was in the kitchen washing a pan when I heard my wife and her friend laugh. They said they felt dizzy from the rolling feeling and that an earthquake passed under us. My son was slouched on the sofa and he got up saying he tumbled over.

I stood 10 feet away and I didn't feel anything. I had no idea and earthquake struck. In the next minute, my wife said the quake must have still been rolling through but I still didn't feel anything. The light above our dining table was swaying and so was the light suspended above our entryway.

A 2-liter soda bottle was ¾ full and the soda pop was moving inside. Click here for fun ideas for a 2-liter soda pop bottle.

We had next door neighbors who didn't feel anything; however, they knew about the quake because friends were sending them text messages asking what they felt. I heard a caller to CNN News was from Altadena and she said lamps and lights were swaying.

The earthquake struck near Mexicali at a 7.2 magnitude according to reports. One person was reported dead. Shockwaves from the quake spread across Southern California.

Buildings swayed in San Diego and a sheriff deputy said the rolling lasted about 30 seconds. In Los Angeles water splashed out of pools while a store sign fell at a Barnes and Noble in Palm Desert - about 100 miles east of Los Angeles near Palm Springs.

Three large aftershocks followed, one of which measured 5.5.

This is the second sizeable quake to roll through the Los Angeles area recently. On early Tuesday March 16, at 4 a.m. a 4.4 temblor rolled through Pico Rivera about 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Get information about quakes in Southern California from the Southern California Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC).

The data center operates at the Seismology lab at the California Institute of Technology located south of downtown Pasadena. The center started in October 1991 and provides continual updates on earthquake activity of all magnitudes in and around Southern California.

The SCEDC Web site is http://www.data.scec.org.