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A 4.4 magnitude quake jolts a wide region of Southern California

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If you were anywhere in Los Angeles or the area during lunchtime yesterday, you likely felt a shake. At ESPN's LA studios, journalist Malika Andrews was live on the air.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MALIKA ANDREWS: As we have a bit of an earthquake here in Los Angeles. So we're just going to make sure that our studio lights - everything stays safe. Everything's shaking.

INSKEEP: The epicenter of the 4.4 quake was just south of Los Angeles' Highland Park neighborhood.

RICHARD ALLEN: This was not a particularly large earthquake. But obviously, it was felt by a lot of people across Los Angeles.

INSKEEP: That's Richard Allen, the director of the UC Berkeley Seismology Lab, who says several factors determine how and when you feel an earthquake.

ALLEN: Whether it be the Los Angeles Basin or in the Bay Area, if you're on one of those fairly flat areas, then you're in a sedimentary basin. And that means that you're often on unconsolidated soils. And these soft soils - they amplify the ground shaking.

INSKEEP: Softer soils slow down the shockwaves, which makes the effects stronger and last longer.

ALLEN: It's a bit of a double whammy.

INSKEEP: Even the kind of building you're in can affect how you feel the earthquake.

ALLEN: So if you're in a tall building, particularly for the larger magnitude earthquakes, it can really oscillate back and forth, whereas a short building will only amplify the ground shaking a little bit.

INSKEEP: Wow. I'm getting disoriented just thinking about this. The type of shaking you experience, whether it's sudden or slow, can be determined by how far away you are from the epicenter.

ALLEN: If it's very sort of shuddery, then you know it's very close by. If it's kind of much more sort of oscillations, you know that it's further away.

INSKEEP: Earthquake news on NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Steve Inskeep is a host of NPR's Morning Edition, as well as NPR's morning news podcast Up First.