The earthquake was also felt at the Los Angeles International Airport, where crews are checking the airfield and terminals for any signs of damage, the airport tweeted.

Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology, said the earthquake produced "a pretty good jolt" in Pasadena, where she was.

It was "almost the same location as the M5.9 Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987," she tweeted.