This view shows the magnitude 6.8 Northridge earthquake, which struck at 4:31 AM (local time) on January 17, 1994, and caused extensive damage in the Los Angeles area (depicted in the Photo Gallery). It occurred on a "blind thrust" fault that caused the area NW of the epicenter to rise by about 30 cm. About 60 people were killed and several highway bridges collapsed. The earthquake took place on the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday. As a result, highway traffic was much lighter than for a normal Monday morning, helping to keep the death toll down. The epicenter for the Northridge earthquake was slightly SW of that for the 1971 San Fernando earthquake.
