An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 struck Friday in a region of Los Angeles that has been hit by a series of winter storms since last week.

The epicenter of the earthquake was about 11 kilometers northwest of Malibu, in mountainous terrain near the northern coast of Los Angeles County, according to data from the United States Geological Survey.

It happened at 1:47 p.m. local time, the USGS said.

According to the USGS, at least two aftershocks of preliminary magnitude 2.7 and 3.0 were recorded after the 4.6 earthquake.

Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Fred Fielding told NBC Los Angeles that an earthquake of that magnitude “will only cause minor damage,” he said.

Los Angeles Fire Department said on social media platform that residents should check their residences and neighbors.

“After inspecting your home for earthquake damage and making sure there are no injuries, check on your pets and your at-risk neighbors, especially seniors who live alone,” it said.

LAFD spokesman Erik Scott told NBC Los Angeles that so far “there has been no significant damage.”

A Ventura County Fire Department account x He said the department was “fully operational and reported no injuries.”

The U.S. Tsunami Warning System said no wave threat was likely from the quake.

Despite its mild nature, the earthquake could have been felt by up to 12 million people, Caltech geophysics researcher Allen Husker, citing USGS data, said on NBC Los Angeles.

A ShakeAlert was sent to the cell phones of MyShake app users and other subscribers to the USGS-managed system. The alerts warn residents of an earthquake before it reaches many users, giving many users time to take cover. The system is still evolving and depends on the addition of seismometers. It is available to approximately 50 million residents of California, Oregon and Washington.

The earthquake area has numerous faults, including the Malibu Coast Fault, which extends from an area near Point Dume east toward the city of Santa Monica.

Lucy Jones, a former USGS seismologist who founded the Dr. Lucy Jones Center for Science and Society, said that as time goes on, the possibility that the earthquake was a harbinger of something bigger quickly diminishes.

But he told NBC Los Angeles that it’s a good time to remind Californians to be ready for something bigger. His main recommendation is to have drinking water on hand, because a major earthquake is likely to disrupt the water supply.

“The most important thing you can do is make sure you have water stored,” he said.

The region has been hit by a trio of storms since last week, bringing historic amounts of rain and flooding to areas from Ventura County to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Friday’s shaking came on a date that marks one of the region’s most damaging earthquakes, the magnitude 6.6 Sylmar earthquake of 1971, named for the northernmost neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was blamed for 64 deaths and more than $500 million in damages, the USGS said.