A quake with a magnitude as large as 7.1 jolted much of California, cracked buildings, set fires, broke roads and caused several injuries, authorities and residents said.The quake, preceded by Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude temblor in the Mojave Desert, was the largest Southern California temblor in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of large and small aftershocks.It hit at 8:19 p.m. and was centered 11 miles from Ridgecrest in the same area where the previous quake hit. But it was felt as far north as Sacramento, as far east as Las Vegas and as far south as Mexico.Latest #RidgecrestQuake data from @USGS. https://t.co/NuaxdKb3Hxpic.twitter.com/HFtIaAmEcI— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 6, 2019Early magnitude estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey wavered between 6.9 and 7.1. It was measured at 7.1 by the
European-Mediterranean Seismological Agency.Multiple injuries, firesThe area in and around Ridgecrest, trying to recover from the previous temblor, took the brunt of damage.Megan Person, director of communications for the Kern County Fire Department, said there were reports of multiple injuries and multiple fires, but she didn’t have details.The county opened an emergency shelter. Meanwhile, a rockslide closed State Route 178 in Kern River Canyon, where photos from witnesses also showed that a stretch of roadway had sunk.San Bernardino County firefighters reported cracked buildings and one minor injury.In downtown Los Angeles, 150 miles away, offices in skyscrapers rolled and rocked for at least 30 seconds.Gov. Gavin Newsom activated the state Office of Emergency Services operations center “to its highest level.”“The state is coordinating mutual aid to local first responders,” he said.Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the Geological Survey, tweeted that Thursday’s earthquake was a “foreshock” and that Friday’s quake was on the same fault system as the earlier quake.This is the same sequence. You know we say we 1 in 20 chance that an earthquake will be followed by something bigger? This is that 1 in 20 time— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) A mobile phone customer looks at an earthquake warning application on their phone in Los Angeles, Jan. 3, 2019. The app, called ShakeAlertLA, is available for download on Android and Apple phones.Construction of a network of seismic-monitoring stations for the West Coast is just over half complete, with most coverage in Southern California, San Francisco Bay Area and the Seattle-Tacoma area. Eventually, the system will send out alerts over the same system used for Amber Alerts to defined areas that are expected to be affected by a quake, de Groot said.California is partnering with the federal government to build the statewide earthquake warning system, with the goal of turning it on by June 2021. The state has spent at least $25 million building it, including installing hundreds of seismic stations throughout the state.This year, Newsom said the state needed $16.3 million to finish the project, which included money for stations to monitor seismic activity, plus nearly $7 million for “outreach and education.” The state Legislature approved the funding last month, and Newsom signed it into law.
…