Trump commits to quake recovery
Structure fires, ruptured gas lines, minor injuries reported in Ridgecrest
RIDGECREST >> President Donald Trump is committed to the region’s recovery from the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that rocked Southern California on Friday and sent shock waves of concern throughout the quake-prone Bay Area, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. Newsom told reporters in Ridgecrest that he spoke with the president “quite literally 5 minutes ago” and was told he and the state will get “whatever you need.”
The governor also credited Trump, a frequent critic of policies ranging from immigration to environmental issues, for following through on previous commitments to help after deadly fires that ravaged the state late last year.
“We don’t agree on everything,” Newsom said, “but one area where there’s no politics, where we’ve worked extraordinarily well together, is in emergency response, recovery and, increasingly now, emergency preparedness.”
Newsom had previously announced that he was requesting a presidential emergency declara
tion that would grant direct federal assistance to the affected region.
“I want to thank the president for his outreach, but more importantly, for FEMA,” Newsom said.
The temblor, which struck about 8:20 p.m. Friday, caused minor injuries but no fatalities, said Mark Ghilarducci, director of California’s Office of Emergency Services. It sparked several structure fires, ruptured gas lines, caused rockslides and collapsed at least one building in Trona, a hamlet in San Bernardino County.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the economic losses could be as high as $1 billion, based on the level of shaking caused by the quake, the structures in the area, the damage caused by other earthquakes of the same magnitude and other factors.
But given the size of the quake — the second in as many days, after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake Thursday — Ghilarducci described the outcome as fortunate, with mostly property and infrastructure damage and residents spared from serious injury.
“So I think we’re very lucky there,” he said, “and happy there wasn’t anything worse.”
State, local and federal agencies are conducting an extensive assessment of damage to homes, buildings, roads, gas lines and other infrastructure, Ghilarducci said. FEMA and associated agencies were already on scene to help state agencies as they assist communities affected by the quake, which hit 11 miles north-northeast of the Kern County city of Ridgecrest.
USGS briefly downgraded the temblor to a 6.9 before relisting it as a 7.1, making it the strongest shaker to strike the region in at least 20 years.
Seismologists said that Thursday’s magnitude 6.4 quake was followed by more than 1,700 aftershocks and that they might continue for years. However, that jolt will now be considered a foreshock to Friday night’s quake, which was followed by a series of strong aftershocks itself, including a magnitude 5.5 and a magnitude 5.4, both near Little Lake.
“They’ve been through a lot in both Ridgecrest in Kern County and in Trona in San Bernardino County,” Ghilarducci said. “They’ve had a weeklong series of earthquakes, an earthquake swarm.”
He added, “So that whole area there, we are continuing to keep them in our thoughts and prayers and working very, very diligently to support all of their efforts.”
And it might not be over. Catherine Puckett, acting western states communications chief for the geological survey, said the agency forecasts that over the next week, “there is a 2% chance of one or more aftershocks larger than 7.1 in the region of the earlier quakes.” The USGS also predicts that there will be 120 to 330 aftershocks over the next week, with a magnitude of 3 or higher.
Newsom surveyed the damage in Ridgecrest on Saturday, meeting with business owners, residents, and local and state officials.
In the Bay Area, the temblors shook up residents and business owners, a reminder to prepare for the next big quake. Tin Le, co-owner of the downtown San Jose bar and restaurant SP2, said he and his staff are “definitely fearful of the ‘big one’ coming.”
Le is planning to hold an emergency management training session for his staff of more than 60 within the next week, he said.
“It’s something we should be doing on a regular basis, but the two earthquakes back to back like that definitely raised the urgency a bit, so we’re going to address that right away,” he said, adding that the training will include showing staff how to turn off the restaurant’s water and gas lines, making sure everyone can locate all the emergency exits, identifying the hanging items to avoid and training staff to exude a calming presence for the restaurant’s patrons.
At a San Jose REI store, sales manager Judi Walter said she noticed an uptick in the number of customers
coming into the store Saturday searching for emergency kits in response to the recent quakes. The kits, which are often designed to sustain two or more people for three days, generally include multipurpose tools such as a pocketknife, firstaid supplies, food packages and water filters, she said.
“After any kind of natural disaster, like the fires last year, there’s definitely a noticeable increase,” Walter said of customers seeking kits. “It’s a good reminder to get your stuff together and be ready for whatever may come.”
In Kern and San Bernardino counties, authorities opened emergency shelters for residents unsure of the structural integrity of their homes, Ghilarducci said. Nearly 200 people used the shelters Friday night, he said.
The California National Guard deployed 300 people to assist in moving first responders and supplies, 68 California Highway Patrol officers were on scene Saturday performing roving patrols to survey the damage, Caltrans crews worked overnight Friday and into Saturday to clear roadways of debris and make emergency repairs, and Calfire staffed its stations at full capacity to be ready to respond to any wildfires throughout the region, a risk intensified by temperatures that ranged in the upper 90s and low 100s, Ghilarducci said.
As of Saturday morning, he said officials in Kern and San Bernardino counties were reporting they had enough clean drinking water. And although power had been cut to roughly 1,800 people, Ghilarducci said officials were working to get it back up and running Saturday.
With the emergency response likely to wrap up Saturday, Ghildarducci said local, state and federal agencies would turn their attention to long-term recovery.
“We’re moving assets into place that can really focus on determining the total amount of damage so we can work proactively to get individuals in the community back up to their normal way of life,” he said.