Mild quake wakes up Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A mild earthquake hit the thickly populated US metropolis of Los Angeles early Thursday, waking up residents but causing no reported damage, monitors and officials said.

The United States Geological Survey measured the quake at magnitude 4.5 on the Moment Magnitude scale. It struck at 00:58 am (0758 GMT) near Chatsworth, a town in the northwest of the vast sprawl around Los Angeles and was felt 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

Home alarms were set blaring in Chatsworth but fire fighters reported no immediate damage.

Scientists believe there is a chance California will suffer a major earthquake due to movement in the nearby San Andreas fault, which runs close by the city of Los Angeles.

Experts say the fault line causes a massive quake every 150 years.

The last such disaster was in 1857. A 6.7 magnitude quake in Northridge, near Chatsworth, killed around 60 people in 1994.