6.4-magnitude earthquake rattles Southern California
SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit a remote area of Southern California on Thursday, the most powerful tremor to shake that region in several years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
It was not immediately clear whether anyone was injured in the quake, which struck shortly after 1 p.m. ET. Its epicentre was located near the Searles Valley, a remote region in the Mojave Desert, about 160 kilometres north of Los Angeles and 80 kilometres east of Bakersfield.
“It’s been widely felt, but we don’t expect any significant damage,” said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the USGS.
He emphasized that the temblor would have been far worse if it had been closer to Los Angeles.
“An earthquake that strong that occurred near a city would cause major destruction and probably a lot of casualties,” he said.
Dr. Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, said the earthquake was the biggest in Southern California since 1999.
Data from the USGS showed a swarm of aftershocks rattled the same region after the earthquake. A 4.0-magnitude temblor preceded the big shake.
The fire department in Kern County said on Twitter that its crews were responding to nearly two dozen medical and fire incidents in and around Ridgecrest, the small desert city of about 30,000 that appeared closest to the epicentre. The Kern County Sheriff’s Office posted on Instagram that it was fielding 911 calls for Ridgecrest police and assisting them with calls.
“The Ridgecrest hospital and several apartment buildings are being evacuated,” the sheriff’s office wrote. Temporary shelters opened at two locations, including a Walmart in Ridgecrest.
President Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon on Twitter that he had been briefed on the earthquake.
Whether people in Los Angeles felt the earthquake or not depended on where they were and what they were doing. Those driving in cars or riding city buses said they had no idea there had been an earthquake while those in higher floors of apartment buildings or hotels said they had been terrified.