6.4 quake:
The strongest jolt to hit in Southern California in 20 years struck a remote desert area.
A 6.4magnitude earthquake in the Mojave Desert — the biggest temblor in Southern California in 20 years — shook much of the southern part of the state, including the Los Angeles area, Thursday morning as people were beginning their Fourth of July festivities.
“Earthquakes don’t take holidays in California,” said Susan Hough, a seismologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena. “Any time, any day, any place is fair game.”
According to the USGS, the quake struck at about 10:33 a.m., in the Searles Valley near the Kern County town of Ridgecrest, about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Early reports indicated mostly minor damage, including merchandise knocked off store shelves, a water main break, minor cracks in building walls, pavement fractures and rockslides obstructing some roads. Television networks aired footage of a house on fire in Ridgecrest. Caltrans officials were inspecting highways in Kern and San Bernardino counties.
According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Ridgecrest Hospital and several apartment buildings were evacuated as a precaution. No major injuries were reported.
Dozens of aftershocks, ranging from 2.6 to 4.6, were reported and more were expected. Seismologists said some could exceed 5.0. As with all earthquakes, Hough said, there is a 1in5 chance of an aftershock stronger than the initial quake.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 5.4 miles in an area of the Southern California desert where earthquakes are relatively common.
People living near the epicenter reported strong shaking, arriving in waves, and lasting for up to 30 seconds, Hough said.
It was unclear on which fault the earthquake occurred, she said, but it was “probably one that no one has heard of,” possibly the Little Lake Fault. She said the seismology of the area is complex, with a sprawling network of smaller faults.
While the earthquake caused noticeable shaking — and much social media discussion — in Los Angeles, it was not strong enough to trigger earthquake warnings on a new Los Angeles County alert system, officials said, nor to cause any damage — other than to people’s nerves.
Thursday’s earthquake was the largest since the 1999 Hector Mine quake near the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, also in the Mojave Desert. It was weaker than the 6.7magnitude 1994 Northridge (Los Angeles County) earthquake that killed 57 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
While the Fourth of July earthquake was strong, the impact is likely to be minimal because of its remote location and low population density, Hough said. Ridgecrest, population 29,000, is the largest city in the area
“Earthquakes bigger than 6.0 don’t happen every day in Southern California,” Hough said. “The last earthquake this big in Southern California was in 1999, so we have had a 20year run. Any earthquake this big is significant. Fortunately, it was in the boonies.”