Earthquake Strikes Los Angeles; Kills 3

LOS ANGELES--A severe earthquake and 15 major aftershocks jolted the Los Angeles area yesterday, cracking buildings and freeways and setting off dozens of fires. At least three people were killed and more than 100 injured.

The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., said the quake registered 6.1 on the Richter scale, making it the strongest tremor to hit the Los Angeles area since the 6.4 Sylmar quake of 1971 that killed 64 people.

The quake was recorded at 7:42 a.m. local time, centered about nine miles south-southeast of Pasadena at the north end of the Whittier-Elsinore Fault. Over the next three hours, at least 15 aftershocks measuring 3 or more on the Richter scale followed.

Damage appeared to be worst in Whittier, the closest suburban area to the epicenter. Marsha Andersen, a spokeswoman for Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, said 60 people had been treated for earthquake related injuries.

"Our uptown area has suffered considerable damage. It's been closed off," said Whittier police Officer Mike Willis.

City personnel director J. Sonny Morkus said officials estimated eight to 10 buildings had been destroyed, none of them homes.

In the older residential neighborhoods, porches collapsed onto lawns, chimneys toppled, windows were shattered, and most residents sat outside on chairs, afraid to return inside.

"The houses up here in the hills are all a mess," said Denise Huff, 33, of Whittier, whose ceiling caved in. "I'm from Ohio, and I'm going back."

The nearby Whittier Narrows Dam apparently escaped structural damage.

In Compton, 12 miles southwest of the epicenter, spokeswoman Andrea Guy said "major and minor structural damage" was apparently widespread. City Hall was closed after a woman was struck on the head by a chunk of falling ceiling plaster.

The quake was felt as far away as Las Vegas, Nev., 250 miles to the northeast. It knocked dishes off shelves in the Victor Valley, 70 miles to the northeast, and shook the ground in El Cajon, in San Diego County to the south.

In downtown Los Angeles, hundreds of people were evacuated from swaying buildings, where windows shattered and elevators became stuck as power was knocked out for nearly an hour.

"All at once there was a whoosh of wind, and I walked over to a brick wall until everything stopped shaking," said Gerald Livezey, a security guard at one downtown building. "Everyone was coming out...circulating, not knowing what to do.

"This one scared me," he said. "I was outside, and I mean it was really shaking. I thought it was the biggie. I thought there wasn't going to be anything left."

Police Officer William Frio said five people were arrested for looting in various parts of the city where windows were shattered. Police spokesman Lt. Dan Cooke said a special anti-looting squad was working downtown and the entire department was on full tactical alert, working 12-hour shifts.

Los Angeles fire officials said that within the city there were at least 40 injuries and two deaths. County coroner's spokesman Bob Dambacher identified the fatalities as Exposito Lupe, 21, of San Gabriel, who was killed by the collapse of a wall of a parking structure at California State University and Juan Herrera, 32, who died of injuries in a fall from the second-floor window of his apartment in suburban Maywood.

An earlier report that a 60-year-old man died of a heart attack during the quake proved unfounded, authorities said.

In Eaton Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains, a man was killed when he was buried under seven feet of earth 35 feet into a tunnel under construction, Pasadena Fire Battalion Chief Duncan Baird said.