Strongest earthquake in 20 years shakes California

On the July 4th holiday, a large part of Southern Califronia and parts of Nevada experienced an earthquake causing injuries, two house fires and damage to a town.

The 6.4 magnitude quake struck at 10:33 a.m, in the Mojave Desert, about 420 kilometers northeast of Los Angeles near the town of Ridgecrest, California.

 Emergency crews dealt with fires, gas leaks, and reports of cracked roads, said Kern County Fire Chief David Witt.

He said 15 patients were evacuated from the Ridgecrest Regional Hospital as a precaution and out of concern for aftershocks.

The quake was detected by California’s new ShakeAlert system and it provided 48 seconds of warning to the seismology lab well before the shaking arrived at Caltech in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena but it did not trigger a public warning through an app recently made available in Los Angeles County.

USGS seismologist Robert Graves said the ShakeAlert system worked properly.

President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the earthquake and that it “all seems to be very much under control!”

Been fully briefed on earthquake in Southern California. All seems to be very much under control!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2019