4.6 earthquake felt in Yuma area Friday afternoon

Jeffrey Byrd has new respect for the construction of the Crescent Center after riding out an earthquake on the building's sixth floor Friday afternoon.

"We had some pretty good movement," said Byrd, assistant vice president and commercial banker for Mohave State Bank in Yuma, which has its offices on the building's top floor. "It was really rocking back and forth."

The cause of all that action was a 4.6 magnitude earthquake that struck at 2:54 p.m. Friday near Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site. The epicenter was 23 miles southeast of Mexicali, near where a series of earthquakes originated earlier this year that kept the Yuma area stirred up for several weeks.

Byrd said he had been on the phone with a client in downtown Yuma who reported he felt the jolt, too.

Friday's quake brought back memories for Byrd of the days he was working in Los Angeles.

He said he was in an office when the Whittier Narrows quake struck on Oct. 1, 1987. The final Richter reading for that earthquake was 5.8, which was felt as far away as Las Vegas, resulted in eight deaths and caused millions of dollars in damage.

"I was in front of a window when it started bubbling and got under a desk," Byrd recalled of that experience.

While Friday's quake was nowhere near that severe, it was still exciting - at least on the sixth floor, he said.

"We swayed to and fro for 10 seconds or so. I'm glad the Crescent Center is a well-built building. I have full confidence in it now."

In February, an earthquake measuring 5.5 originated south of Mexicali and shook up Yumans. That quake was followed by numerous aftershocks over the next several weeks, measuring from magnitude 2.1 to 4.7.

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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.