On Friday, July 5, 2019, in southern California, an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 was recorded, without casualties.
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake occurred in southern California Friday 5th July 2019 at 8.19pm local time (3:19 GMT Saturday), the USGS Geophysical Institute announced.
This earthquake follows the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that occurred the day before in the same region.
Little information was available at first, but on-site relief did not report death or major damage on Friday night.
“Houses that have moved, cracked foundations, load-bearing walls on the ground. A wounded (light) and firefighters are treating him, “said quickly on Twitter the relief of the county of San Bernardino, near the epicentre. They added:
“The first reports show more damage.”
The spectrum of “Big One”
The earthquake on Friday was once again felt as far as Los Angeles, where no major damage was recorded, according to local authorities.
Also in Las Vegas, neighbouring Nevada, these two successive earthquakes revived the spectre of the “Big One”, a potentially devastating mega-earthquake so feared in the American West.
Seismologist Lucy Jones of California Institute of Technology (Caltech), however, assured that the two earthquakes occurred “on the same fault”, which is not that of San Andreas likely to cause this dreaded “Big One”.
The specialist, however, insisted on the “high probability” of witnessing important aftershocks in the coming days in the same area.
According to Lucy Jones, there is a 50% chance of having an earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher and 10% of magnitude 7 or more during the week.
“My house is like it’s rolling”
In Ridgecrest, a small town of about 28,000, Jessica Kormelink, a resident interviewed by CNN television, said she felt “a rather serious tremor.” “And my house, it’s as if it was undulating,” she said, echoing many similar testimonies tens of kilometres around.
Mick Gleason, a Kern County official where Ridgecrest is located, reported two buildings on fire. “But we have dozens of fire trucks” thanks to the important reinforcements dispatched the day before, he reassured, without being able to give details of possible injuries or to take stock of the material damage.
Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said no deaths were reported after the quake. And if 1,800 homes are without electricity, no gas leaks have been reported, he said.
In Trona, a small isolated community northeast of Ridgecrest, a Los Angeles Times resident, Ivan Amerson, reported “significant damage”, including homes being shaken out of their foundations.
According to the USGS, the Thursday earthquake was likely a precursor to the one that occurred Friday at 8.19pm local time.
