The largest Southern California earthquake in nearly 20 years has jolted a vast area from Sacramento to Mexico, cracking buildings, setting fires, wrecking roads but only causing minor injuries.
The 7.1-magnitude quake struck at 8:19 p.m. Friday and was centered 11 miles (18 kilometers) from Ridgecrest, the same area of the Mojave Desert where a 6.4-magnitude temblor hit just a day earlier.</p>
PRESS CONFERENCE SATURDAY MORNING:
Several thousand people in Ridgecrest were without power, and there were reports of cracked buildings and fires stemming mostly from gas leaks or line breaks.</p>
Hospital patients still hooked to IVs were wheeled out of a Ridgecrest hospital as a rockslide closed a state road in Kern County.</p>
Several homes were knocked off their foundations.
Seismologists warned that large aftershocks were expected to continue for days or weeks.
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— Joe Bartels (@Joe_Bartels) July 6, 2019
