A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck Southern California near the city of Ridgecrest, about 113 miles northeast of Los Angeles, on Thursday. The Kern County Fire Department said it was working on "nearly two dozen incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest." Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breedon said the city was dealing with fires and broken gas lines, as well as falling objects that hit people, as the city endured many aftershocks. "We are used to earthquakes but we're not used to this significance," she told MSNBC. The quake is the largest in Southern California since the 1994 magnitude 6.6 Northridge earthquake, which was centered in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles and caused billions of dollars of damage, US Geological Survey (USGS) geophysicist Paul Caruso said. My dads liquor store in Ridgecrest (11 miles from the earthquake) �� pic.twitter.com/4RC0mY3eha— Zomo (@zomo_abd) July 4, 2019 Ms Breedon said she had never felt a quake "like this long rolling" temblor, adding she was driving in her car when it happened and immediately pulled up her emergency brake. She said the city of Ridgecrest had asked residents to look after others, especially the elderly, which form a large part of the city's population. The USGS said the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.6, was very shallow - only 5.4 miles - which would have amplified its effect. The temblor, which struck at around 1:30pm EDT in an area on the edge of Death Valley National Park, was felt throughout Los Angeles, as far north as Fresno, and as far east as Las Vegas, Nevada. It was even felt south of the border in Mexico, where buildings were evacuated in the towns of Tijuana and Mexicali, according to Baja State officials. This is my friends chandelier after the earthquake �� earthquakeridgecrestearthquakepic.twitter.com/UqjHupfvLA— Yunuen Valencia (@_yv0214) July 4, 2019 According to European quake agency EMSC, the quake was felt in an area inhabited by some 20 million people. "We were just panicked trying to get out of the house because everything was just falling out of the cabinets, off the shelves, off the walls, pictures ... They were flying like missiles off the shelves," resident April Rodriguez in Trona, California, south of Ridgecrest, said on CNN. The epicenter was very close to Ridgecrest, a town with a population of more than 27,600 in the high desert. The area is associated with the Eastern California Shear Zone and has suffered earthquake swarms in the past, including a series of some 2,500 tremors over the course of five weeks in the summer of 1995. According to poweroutage.us, there were some 5,851 customers without power in Kern County. Temperatures in the area were expected to climb to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8°C) on Thursday, with extremely low humidity, the Weather Channel said. USGS seismologist Lucy Jones said on CNN the area would be hit by many more aftershocks in the coming days, and could even be hit by a larger quake. A magnitude 6.4 quake is considered strong and is capable of causing severe damage. US President Donald Trump said that the situation appeared to be under control amid reports of scattered damage. "Been fully briefed on earthquake in Southern California. All seems to be very much under control!" Mr Trump tweeted. The quake struck near the city of Ridgecrest and the US Navy’s China Lake weapons testing range. A hospital damaged by the quake in Ridgecrest was being evacuated, and an official at China Lake said there was "substantial damage" to their facilities, including fires, water leaks and spills of hazardous materials.
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