That wave that rolled across the Westside at 1:18 pm. was a quake centered four miles west-northwest of Santa Monica. Preliminary magnitude: 3.1. It was short and jolting here, over in a flash—the kind that feels like something big dropped somewhere.

If you have GPS and like to know these things, the quake began 6.6 miles below the ground at 34 deg. 2.8 min. N latitude (34.047N), 118 deg. 33.3 min. W longitude (118.556W). * Interesting to note: within half an hour, 770 people from seventy Zip codes had reported what they felt to the Southern California Earthquake Center, most describing minor shaking and no damage. (The aftershock at 8:42 pm was a 3.0, two miles east-southeast of Santa Monica...essentially under my house.)