The Associated Press

Thu, Jan 8, 2009 (9:15 p.m.)

A moderate earthquake struck Thursday night in San Bernardino, with shaking felt from Los Angeles 55 miles to the west and south to Orange County. No immediate reports of damage or injuries were reported.

A preliminary reading by the U.S. Geological Survey showed a 4.5-magnitude quake struck at 7:49 p.m. just south of San Bernardino, a city of about 200,000 people. The USGS initially reported it at 4.9, then 5.0.

"It was a little roll and big jolt, then a sonic boom kind of noise," said San Bernardino County Fire Supervisor Tim Franke.

Law enforcement agencies across the region said no damage or injuries were reported. However, plenty of people across Southern California saw mild effects from the quake. Citizen reports to the USGS showed the quake was felt as far south as San Diego and as far north as the Palmdale area.

"Nothing fell here except a few oil cans," said Socorro Ruiz, an employee at an AMPM convenience store in San Bernardino. "We were a little scared, with the ground going up and down underneath us. It sounded like something noisy was going in the basement."

The quake disturbed dinner for about 120 people at the nearby Castaway Restaurant, said manager Ignacio Coyt. He said he felt a "very quick jolt." No one panicked but he said one couple left to check out any damage.

"It felt like something dropped from the roof," Coyt said.

To the south in Orange County, a librarian at the Yorba Linda Public Library said she felt shaking but was thankful she didn't have much to clean up.

"We didn't even have any books fall," Julie Zeoli said. "We only felt it for about a second."

The quake struck 9 miles deep near the San Jacinto fault, which is part of the San Andreas Fault system, said seismologist Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey.

The San Jacinto fault cuts through the fast-growing city of San Bernardino west of City Hall. The city has dozens of unreinforced mansonry buildings that are prone to damage during a big quake, Jones said.

The quake was the latest moderate temblor to hit the region in recent months. A 5.1 magnitude hit in early December, and in July a magnitude-5.4 quake centered in the hills east of Los Angeles was the strongest to rattle a populated area of Southern California since the 1994 Northridge disaster.