The quake interrupted a meeting of the Los Angeles City Council, causing the 27-story City Hall to sway just as Councilman Dennis Zine was criticizing a plan to increase trash fees.
"Earthquake! Earthquake! We've got an earthquake," said Zine, as members of the audience began to cry out. "It's still happening."
Phoenix native Nathan Blaylock was lying in bed watching television this morning in his penthouse apartment in downtown Los Angeles when he felt his first earthquake.
"It felt like someone hit the side of the building. It was rocking," said Blaylock, a medical equipment salesman who said he has lived in Los Angeles for about seven months. "It scared me a little bit, then I realized what it was."
Elevators at the Pegasus Apartments, Blaylock's building, shut down as a result of the earthquake. It was not immediately clear whether anyone was trapped in the elevators when they stopped working.
Orange County also felt shaking, and officials were checking reports of possible minor runway damage at John Wayne Airport.
"It's the first time in my life I actually got under my desk," said Anaheim Police Sgt. Ken Seymour, who has lived in Southern California his whole life.
It's too early to tell if there's any major damage but all units are checking overpasses, bridges and tall buildings, he said.
On the UC Irvine campus, a community college student attending a special summer program began to cry as her English classroom pitched and rolled for about 30 seconds. She was comforted by a counselor and soon was smiling and chatting again. The class in English critical thinking and literature is part of a program for Santa Ana College students to help them transfer to a four-year university.
The quake was felt forcefully in Long Beach, where a series of sharp and loud jolts hit.
Dozens of office workers evacuated high-rise buildings in downtown Long Beach, but there were no immediate reports of physical damage.
In Alhambra, an apartment building rolled and the foundations shook, but not enough to shake books off shelves.
Three people were killed and roughly 10,600 homes and businesses were damaged in the magnitude 6.1 Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987 and a 5.5 aftershock, and thousands of people were displaced. Many more, their nerves rattled, slept outside on sidewalks or in parks for days after the earthquake, prompting the Red Cross to erect circus tents for people to sleep in. The quakes caused more than $125 million in damage.
The initial, stronger quake hit before dawn on Oct. 1, and the strong aftershock hit early in the morning on Oct. 4.
The governor issued the following statement: "I have spoken with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, acting Mayor Wendy Greuel, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, and Chino Hills City Manager Doug La Belle to check on the status of their communities and to offer them whatever assistance they need from the state. Our state Office of Emergency Services has reached out to local governments in the affected area to ensure that levees, bridges and other critical infrastructure are inspected and declared safe. We are activating our regional and state emergency operations centers and will continue monitoring the situation closely."
There were 27 aftershocks, but I felt none. Luckily I was many miles away from the epicenter