On Friday (July 5), a Magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked southern California. The epicenter was estimated to be very close to Thursday’s magnitude 6.4 earthquake in the Mojave Desert near Ridgecrest, California.
Prelim M7.1 Earthquake 35.767, -117.605 Jul-06 03:19 UTC, updates https://t.co/uVJBfBodUN
— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) July 6, 2019
Two separate strong earthquakes struck within 2 days, one on the 4th of July, the other on the 5th.
Images and video poured out on social media showing the shaking felt all around southern California.
Powerful Earthquake Shakes Parts of SoCal
Terrifying scenes in Southern California as a major earthquake rocked parts of the Golden State. This prelim 7.1 magnitude quake is now the largest in SoCal in two decades.
Posted by WeatherNation on Saturday, July 6, 2019
Ridgecrest pool with quake waves
The magnitude 7.1 #earthquake made quite the splash across many California cities… literally. Check out the waves in this backyard swimming pool in Ridgecrest on Friday night!
Posted by WeatherNation on Saturday, July 6, 2019
The Governor spoke at a news conference on Saturday afternoon, proclaiming that local leaders were ready to rebuild stronger and more resilient than before.
NEW: CA Governor @GavinNewsom says Ridgecrest leaders are determined to rebuild stronger following the recent M6.4 and M7.1 earthquakes #CAquake
Story: https://t.co/SaAU0JcyCa pic.twitter.com/isaKwuMiGI
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) July 6, 2019
Seismologist, Dr. Lucy Jones, quickly pointed out on social media late Friday that the first earthquake was a ‘foreshock’ to the larger 7.1 magnitude quake Friday night.
So the M6.4 was a foreshock. This was a M7.1 on the same fault as has been producing the Searles Valley sequence. This is part of the same sequence –
— Dr. Lucy Jones (@DrLucyJones) July 6, 2019
Many reports from the Friday earthquake noted that *this* one was felt much more intense than the Thursday earthquake.
Rolling #earthquake felt here at the NWS Hanford office at approximately 8:20 pm PDT. Lasted a good 45 seconds. Preliminary report of magnitude 7.1 quake with epicenter 11 miles from Ridgecrest, CA. #cawx
— NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) July 6, 2019
This strength of an earthquake is considered ‘major’ regarding the scale and possible damage.
Do you know what to do when an earthquake begins? Check out some of these important and life-saving tips.
An earthquake begins — do you know what to do and where to go whether you're inside, outside, or in your car? Meteorologist Meredith Garofalo has some potentially life-saving tips from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) & Ready READ MORE -> https://bit.ly/2FV5F6k
Posted by WeatherNation on Saturday, July 6, 2019
For WeatherNation, Meteorologist Steve Glazier