Update 20:19 UTC :
– Another M2.5 aftershock was almost unnoticed by people.
– We hate to say it, but social media are again rumoring that a stronger earthquake will occur later today. Such rumors are TOTALLY NONSENSE. Even when such a stronger earthquake would occur, NOBODY in the world can predict such events today (hopefully in the future). You should be prepared for an earthquake at all times. DROP, COVER and HOLD until it is over.
– The authorities and local press are still maintaining that there was NO damage or injuries.
Our ER team continued to search for signs of damage and came up with the following felt reports :
– Goleta: dishes on counter broke after hit by something falling off shelves.
– Goleta : Clock almost fell off wall but nothing broken. Small crack in wall.
– Undefined location in the area : “Running at the beach and saw some big chunks come off the cliffs. Good time to be especially careful near the tops and bottoms of the bluffs!”
– earthquake related or not : A major natural gas leak in Thousand Oaks prompted evacuations on a half-mile radius, Thousand Oaks is just south of Oxnard (MMI of III was felt there) they don’t know what caused this. The gas leak was reported 3 hours after the earthquake.

MMI radius map

Update 17:25 UTC : Don’t be blind for the always appearing standard text “There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries” who are published soon after an earthquake from this type. Although the text is right at the time of writing, people often do not report fallen objects, fissures in walls, etc. Based on our experience, it would really surprise us that no minor damage was inflicted. We will continue following up local reports and will bring them to you if we find them.
The current status is still : The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Management and Fire Department said they had no initial reports of injuries or damage.

Update 17:06 UTC : The local press is still writing that USGS did decrease the Magnitude from 4.9 to 4.6 which was indeed the case BUT after a new update USGS has now reported a magnitude of 4.8. if you are a journalist reading this, please adapt your content. A M4.8 earthquake at a depth of 8 km is a rather strong event for California.
The M2.6 aftershock which occurred 12 minutes after the mainshock will not have been felt by many people.

Update 17:03 UTC : News Channel 3 Santa Barbara is receiving reports of minor damage such as glass breaking and small objects falling from walls, exactly what we wrote a few minutes after it happened.

Update 16:52 UTC : The seismograph at ABC7 KABC-TV LOS ANGELES, CA has been building the seismogram of this event.

Update 16:31 UTC : USGS has updated his values to M4.8 at a depth of 8 km.
Shaking values at the following locations :
Moderate MMI V shaking : Isla Vista  23,000 and  Goleta 30,000
Light shaking MMI IV : Santa Ynez 4,000, Buellton 5,000, Solvang 5,000 and Mission Canyon 2,000
The Human impact map has been changed as follows :

Update 16:09 UTC : Below the Focal Mechanism of this earthquake (reverse faulting mechanism). Today’s earthquake was right on the coastal fault. The stress comes from the Oceanic plate pushing towards the North American plate (South-West – North-East direction.  As you can see on the fault map below, the whole area is very complex.
On our map below, you can see that the strongest earthquake in the area was a M6.2 earthquake in 1925 followed by a M5.8 in 1978, both in the direct vicinity of Santa Barbara.

Fault map courtesy http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/

Update 15:09 UTC : No reports of damage so far (far to early to bu sure about that). Based on our California experience incoming MMI’s are higher than normal, so minor damage is still possible.

Update 15:06 UTC : Maximum shaking as expected by USGS MMI VI (this is also the maximum we are getting from our readers).

Based on the many I Have Felt It reports we are receiving, people have been really scared by the shaking. In average we get a moderate MMI V shaking. Goleta , closest to the epicenter has the strongest incoming MMI’s
We expect at least some minor damage in Goleta (minor damge like fallen objects, cracks in walls, fallen rooftiles, etc).

5km (3mi) W of Isla Vista, California
8km (5mi) WSW of Goleta, California
20km (12mi) W of Santa Barbara, California
36km (22mi) W of Carpinteria, California
484km (301mi) SSE of Sacramento, California

Most important Earthquake Data:

Magnitude : 4.6

Local Time (conversion only below land) : 2013-05-29 07:38:02

GMT/UTC Time : 2013-05-29 14:38:02

Depth (Hypocenter)  : 2 km

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2013/05/29/moderate-earthquake-santa-barbara-channel-calif-on-may-29-2013/