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Reuters

A powerful earthquake struck Southern California on Thursday, touching off house fires and damaging buildings in a desert town northeast of Los Angeles, but authorities had no early reports of injuries.
The 6.4 magnitude quake, the largest in two decades in the area, struck about 182km (113 miles) northeast of Los Angeles near the city of Ridgecrest at around 10.30am, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The Kern County Fire Department said on Twitter it was working “nearly 2 dozens incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest, CA.”
Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breeden said the city was dealing with fires and broken gas lines, as well as falling objects that hit people, as the city endured many aftershocks.

“We are used to earthquakes but we’re not used to this significance,” she told MSNBC.
The quake is the largest in Southern California since the 1994 magnitude 6.6 Northridge earthquake, USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso said. That quake, which was centred in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles, caused billions of dollars of damage.
Breeden said she had never felt a quake “like this long rolling” temblor, adding she was driving in her car when it happened and immediately pulled up her emergency brake.
She said the city of Ridgecrest had asked residents to look after others, especially the elderly, which form a large part of the city’s population.
How prepared is Tokyo for giant quake that could kill 10,000 people?
The USGS said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.6, was very shallow – only 10.7km (6.7 miles) – which would have amplified its effect.
The temblor, which struck in an area on the edge of Death Valley National Park, was felt throughout Los Angeles, as far north as Fresno, and as far east as Las Vegas, Nevada. It was even felt south of the border in Mexico, where buildings were evacuated in the towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, according to Baja State officials.
Chuck Schlie, who lives in St. Louis and was visiting Los Angeles for the first time with his family, said he was lying in bed at his hotel room in nearby Anaheim when he felt rumbling.
“I thought wow this is really weird. Am I going crazy?” Schlie said outside the historic TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. “If you’ve never experienced it, you think am I out of my mind? Why am I feeling like this?”

According to European quake agency EMSC, the quake was felt in an area inhabited by some 20 million people.
“We were just panicked trying to get out of the house because everything was just falling out of the cabinets, off the shelves, off the walls, pictures … They were flying like missiles off the shelves,” resident April Rodriguez in Trona, California, south of Ridgecrest, said on CNN.
James Wilhorn, the manager of Howard’s Mini Mart in Ridgecrest, said his gas station was the only one open in the area because of damage to other gas stations and the Independence Day holiday, and there was a line of 20 cars waiting to fill their tanks.
“I mopped up over 20 gallons (76 litres) of wine that fell over in addition to the beer, soda and the cooler that fell over. We have several thousand dollars worth of damage,” Wilhorn said.
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The epicentre was very close to Ridgecrest, a town with a population of more than 27,600 in the high desert. The area has suffered earthquake swarms in the past, including a series of some 2,500 tremors over the course of five weeks in the summer of 1995.
“We expect to be seeing a lot of earthquakes today … Probably at least one more will be damaging” Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, told a televised news conference. She said there were at least two seismic faults involved.
US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the earthquake.
“All seems to be very much under control!” Trump tweeted.


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Earthquakes

Largest earthquake in decades hits Southern California, measuring 6.4 magnitude

Broken bottles and other goods in a store in Lake Isabella, California, after a 6.4 magnitude quake hit on Thursday. Photo: Rex Emerson via AFP

A fire is seen following an earthquake in Ridgecrest , California, U.S. July 4, 2019 in this still image taken from social media video. Ben Hood via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

An exercise for first responders is held at the Office of Emergency Management in Los Angeles in March 2013. Photo: AFP

At least 26 injured as 6.7-magnitude earthquake rocks Japan

A collapsed slope after an earthquake in Murakami, Niigata prefecture, in Japan on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

The magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Tsuruoka, Japan, at 10.22pm local time on June 18. 2019. The circles on this image show how far the tremors spread. Experts now predict a tsunami will be inbound. Image: USCS

China’s Sichuan earthquake death toll rises to 12, with 134 injured

Residents gather in the open in Changning county on Monday night after a magnitude 6.0 hit the area. Photo: Xinhua

How prepared is Tokyo for giant earthquake that could kill 10,000 people and destroy 300,000 buildings?

Tokyo schoolchildren take shelter under desks during an earthquake simulation exercise. Photo: Reuters

Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and tsunami observations division director Yasuo Sekita points at a graph of ground motion waveform data observed in the morning in Japan during a news conference on implications that an earthquake sourced around North Korea was triggered by an unnatural reason May 25, 2009. North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test on Monday, stoking tension across the regional economic powerhouse of East Asia and prompting U.N. Security Council members to call an emergency meeting. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao(JAPAN SCI TECH POLITICS ENVIRONMENT)

***PAY PER USE. Please re-download from vendor website.*** FFRY25 TOKYO EARTHQUAKE, 1923. /nA view of the center of Tokyo, Japan, following the earthquake and fire that devastated the city on 1 September 1923, killing about 143,000 people. Buildings that are still standing in the photo were made of concrete. [26AUGUST2018 FEATURE POST MAGAZINE] CREDIT: AFP

Stranded people rest at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building which has been converted into a temporary shelter after public transportation was suspended after an earthquake hit, in Tokyo early March 12, 2011. The biggest earthquake to hit Japan on record struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships, cars and farm buildings on fire. REUTERS/Kyodo (JAPAN - Tags: DISASTER) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN

News

World

United States & Canada

Quake was felt throughout Los Angeles and as far away as Las Vegas
Fires started and buildings damaged, but no early reports of fatalities


The 6.4 magnitude quake was felt throughout Los Angeles and as far away as Las Vegas.


Natural disasters

United States

Largest earthquake in decades hits Southern California, measuring 6.4 magnitude

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Quake was felt throughout Los Angeles and as far away as Las Vegas Fires started and buildings damaged, but no early reports of fatalities

Quake was felt throughout Los Angeles and as far away as Las Vegas

Fires started and buildings damaged, but no early reports of fatalities