Pahrump feels new California quake

Another California earthquake, centered in neighboring Inyo County, shook up parts of the Pahrump area and Las Vegas Valley on Thursday afternoon.

A preliminary 5.0-magnitude quake hit the Ridgecrest, California, area just before 2 p.m., according to U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Julie Dutton. She said it was an aftershock of the larger earthquakes that hit the area earlier this year, on July 4 and July 5.

Residents reported feeling it in the Pahrump region but no damage or injuries were immediately reported.

“My chimes on my grandfather clock were swaying pretty good,” Debbie Cullen wrote on the Facebook page of the Pahrump Valley Times.

There were 36 reports from the Las Vegas area on the USGS’ “Did You Feel It?” map, where users are encouraged to report when they feel an earthquake in their area. The tremors were mostly felt across Southern and Central California.

Dutton said there is no way to tell if more aftershocks will come, because officials “don’t know when the series will die out.”

The USGS website indicated the quake was recorded about 1:49 p.m. and centered about 11 miles east of Little Lake, Calif.

— Compiled from reports by Alexis Egeland of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Pahrump Valley Times staff