Isla Vista shaken and stirred by morning earthquake

A strong, rolling earthquake came out of the Santa Barbara Channel this morning just off the coast of Isla Vista. Residents were rattled but escaped unharmed.

The magnitude 4.8 quake hit at 7:38 a.m. It was centered off the Isla Vista coast and followed by four aftershocks. The USGS reports the fourth aftershock had a 3.1 magnitude. It happened Wednesday at 8:19 p.m. The quake was widely felt, from Lompoc to the far end of Ventura County.

No significant damage was reported.

For resident Kaitlin Carney who was sleeping on a couch in an ocean bluff apartment, “I felt our house was going to slide into the ocean. We ran around our house screaming in our pajamas.”

One of her roommates, “ran around screaming and our other roommate told everyone told everyone to get in the doorway but we were too excited to think about safety,” said Carney. ” Then we went to the ocean to look for a tsunami.”

Nearby a resident Bianca Tonne, said “we went to the street and everyone else came out. We all like said this is cool it’s in Isla Vista, and it was actually in Isla Vista.”

The temblor rattled nerves, especially college students near UC Santa Barbara who had never gone through a quake before. “If you’ve never felt that, it feels like the world’s coming to an end,” said Tonne. “My roommate was crying. She was scared.”

Nearby in Winchester Canyon, one resident was in the shower when the quake hit.

“I thought a car had crashed into the building, honestly,” said Bobby Zavala.

Those who felt it said it had a slow motion to it for the first few seconds of the quake then it progressively got more powerful and faded off. Some quakes come with a sharp jolt. This one rolled.

“I thought someone was playing a practical joke with my bed, but the entire room was shaking,” said resident Kevin Luhdorff.

Sheriff’s and fire crews checked out their districts right after the quake, to be available for anyone with a concern.