A powerful 7,1-magnitude temblor struck in the Mojave Desert (near Ridgecrest) located about 200 kilometers northeast of Los Angeles, at a depth of 17 kilometers on Friday, July 5, 2019.
According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred at 8:19pm local time on a shallow strike-slip fault of the North America plate. Its epicenter is located about 150 kilometers NE of the region's main plate boundary, San Andreas Fault.
Shaking was felt as far as Mexico and it was intense in the regions near the epicenter. “I just held on to the railing. In my 27 years, I have never experienced an earthquake this big here. We weren’t expecting a bigger one, nobody was,” Mr. Lugo, supervisor at a chemical plant, who was standing on the top of a water tank during the earthquake, stated. However, in Los Angeles and Las Vegas the impact of the quake was mitigated.
The shock followed another 6,4-magnitude earthquake that occurred in the same region a day before (on Independence Day). Both earthquakes have caused some infrastructure damage, gas leaks, power outages, road closures and have triggered fires. Some people were injured but, fortunately, no victims are reported yet. “We’ve got fires, we’ve got gas leaks, we’ve got injuries, we’ve got people without power. We’re dealing with it as best we can,” Peggy Breeden, the Mayor of Ridgecrest, said.
The situation has further deteriorated due to 16 aftershocks that struck the region since Friday. Moreover, according to USGS, another powerful aftershock may occur in the following days.
The main earthquakes and their aftershocks seem to be localized. However, seismologists are concerned about any correlation of those shocks with San Andreas Fault. According to scientists, there is a network between the faults that caused the current earthquakes and San Andreas Fault, therefore, their activity impacts the hazardous rift.
The last catastrophic earthquake that hit Southern California was in 1994. Back then, Los Angeles was highly affected as 57 people died and structural damage resulted in huge financial loss.
Sources: Forbes.com, Reuters.com, NYtimes.com, USGS.gov
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