The largest earthquake in decades hits Southern California, measuring 6.4 magnitudes.
A 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Southern California on Thursday, the largest earthquake to hit this region in decades. The 10:33 a.m. quake was centered in the Searles Valley, 100 miles from Los Angeles, and was felt as far away as Long Beach and Las Vegas.
“We should be expecting lots of aftershocks,” Caltech seismologist Lucy Jones, California’s foremost earthquake expert, told a midday press conference in Pasadena.
She estimated that there was a “greater than 50-50” chance of an earthquake of magnitude 5.5 or more Thursday afternoon. She added, “We should always be preparing for the big one. This does not make it less likely.”
The Kern County Fire Department was responding to “nearly 2 dozens incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest,” according to the department’s Twitter account.
Local emergency agencies have been flooded with calls, and officials urged that people only use 911 for emergencies.
“We are very much aware of the significant earthquake that just occurred in Southern California. Please DO NOT call 911 unless there are injuries or other dangerous conditions. Don’t call for questions please,” the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said in a statement.
The earthquake was centered roughly 80 miles northeast of a stretch of the 106-year-old Los Angeles water supply system spanning the San Andreas fault. The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 1,200 kilometers through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate. The fault divides into three segments, each with different characteristics and a different degree of earthquake risk. The slip rate along the fault ranges from 20 to 35 mm/yr. The fault was identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley, who discovered the northern zone. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extended all the way into southern California.
It’s unlikely there was notable damage in a major city area given that the earthquake was centered in such a remotely populated area. The area that ruptured occurred in an area of faults slightly east of the Sierra Nevada.
