Quake has little effect on Newport-Mesa

-- Greg Risling

Short of a few alarms and a power outage, the Newport-Mesa area was left

unscathed after Saturday morning’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

Authorities said there were no reports of major problems after the quake

struck at 2:45 a.m. Saturday. Because the epicenter was some 100 miles

away in the Mojave Desert, the force of the quake was somewhat mild,

producing slight rumblings and a rolling sensation.

Police responded to Hoag Hospital around 3 a.m. Saturday when an alarm

attached to a methane gas line was triggered. The flashing light

indicated a power outage or a possible gas leak.

“It looks like there was a power outage for a short time in the area

around the hospital,” said Lt. John Blauer, community relations officer

for the Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department. “Otherwise, everything

was copacetic.”

A gas station attendant called the Costa Mesa Fire Department on Saturday

morning, reporting that alarms for the station’s underground tanks had

been set off, most likely by the quake’s reverberations.

“Someone was sent out to inspect the tanks, but nothing unusual was

found,” said Barbara Marcosa, public information officer for the Costa

Mesa Fire Department. “We had a couple of false alarms, but really, we

weren’t affected that much.”