7.2 Quake Rocks California Border

A 7.2 earthquake epicentered near Mexicali has shaken all of Southern California, and set high-rise buildings in Los Angeles and San Diego rocking back and forth, but no significant damage was reported in the city.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake hit at 3:40 p.m.

Preliminary USGS information indicated the epicenter was 19 miles southeast of Mexicali, in an area that has been hit with magnitude 3.0 quakes all week. Earlier this weekend, a series of small-to-moderate quakes hit the geothermally-active area.

Strong shaking was reported in the Coachella Valley and Riverside. KESQ-TV was was inundated with phone calls from viewers concerned about the strength of the quake.

Since then, several other earthquakes have hit the area, including a 5.1 in magnitude near Brawley. Boulders littered Interstate 8 for a time.

KESQ (@kesq) Twitter followers sent us pictures and told us what they went through.

One tweet said, “me and a co-worker were up in the third floor of the agua caliente in dhs and thought it was the wind lol.”

Another said, “I was sitting in the kitchen when it started moving on my computer i yelled for my mom i was ready to run lol.”

And one other person pointed out the lesson he took from it: “(I) have family in Mexicali and Rosarito, can’t contact them! We better get our stuff together here!”

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High-rise structures in San Diego and Los Angeles rolled, at first gently and then much more strongly.

In Los Angeles, the city fire department went on earthquake status and five stalled elevators were reported, but it was unknown whether any of the incidents were related to the quake, said Erik Scott of the LAFD.

One woman reported being stuck in an elevator that had been descending from the 34th floor in a high-rise building at 10250 W. Constellation Blvd. in Century City, Scott said. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

The fire department wrapped up its earthquake emergency mode just before 5 p.m., Scott said, adding that district drive through assessments indicated no significant damage or injuries were reported.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power says there are no power outages anywhere in the city, spokeswoman Maryanne Pierson said.

There were reports of “flickering lights” to about 5,380 Southern California Edison customers in Huntington Beach, Montebello, Compton and neighboring cities, said spokeswoman Lauren Bartlett. Also, 346 customers in Rancho Palos Verdes were without power as a result of the quake.

The earthquake also caused “low-level ground movement” at SCE’s San Onofre plant, said spokesman Gil Alexander.

“The movement was not sufficient to prompt a shut-down, but it did trigger a regulatory protocol…(and) plant personnel have begun inspections conducted in such situations,” Alexander said. “San Onofre is designed to withstand an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude five miles from the plant, meaning operators would be able to shut the units down without any danger to the public. Today’s quake occurred several hundred miles from the facility.”

Phone calls to El Centro, about 40 miles north of the epicenter, were met with busy circuits. A police dispatcher in Yuma, Ariz. said the quake was very strong there, but no damage was reported.