3.2 QUAKE SHAKES SILVER LAKE AREA.

Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer

Skyscrapers swayed and nerves frayed Wednesday when a 3.2-magnitude earthquake struck on the same fault that scientists just a week ago warned could someday cause a major temblor under downtown Los Angeles.

No damage or injuries were reported after the quake hit at 1:13 p.m., according to fire officials.

It occurred on the same fault that a study last week predicted could unleash a 6.5-to-6.8-magnitude quake once every 1,000 to 3,000 years along the Elysian Park fold, which runs from Hollywood to Whittier Narrows.

``It's like a bear in hibernation and sometimes it twitches,'' said the study's co-author, Caltech geologist Kerry Sieh. ``At least (Wednesday), it didn't get up and roar.''

The fault was responsible for the 5.9-magnitude Whittier Narrows quake of Oct. 1, 1987.

Wednesday's shaker, also felt by residents in the San Fernando Valley, was not an aftershock, Sieh said.

The quake was centered three miles north of downtown in the Silver Lake area, roughly eight miles beneath the intersection of the Golden State and Glendale freeways, he said.

On average, there is a 5 percent chance that a small quake such as Wednesday's was a foreshock, a precursor to a larger quake, Sieh said.

A quake on this fault as powerful as the 6.7-magnitude Northridge temblor could cause widespread devastation, especially in neighborhoods where older, concrete-reinforced buildings could collapse, Caltech scientists say.