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California Earthquake Memes: A Second Earthquake Hit Southern California, Larger 7.1 Magnitude Quake

July 6, 2019
4 Min Read

Second Earthquake Hit Southern California

A powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake swayed buildings and cracked foundations in Southern California on Friday night, sending terrified residents sleeping on the streets a day after another temblor hit.

The latest earthquake Friday struck 11 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, according to the US Geological Survey. It was five times bigger than Thursday’s 6.4 -magnitude earthquake, also centered near Ridgecrest, CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
In Ridgecrest, multiple fires broke out Friday and several injuries were reported, according to Kern County spokeswoman Megan Person. The county has activated an emergency operations center, and nearly 2,000 people are without power, officials said.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department said it received multiple reports of damage as well from northwest communities.
“Homes shifted, foundation cracks, retaining walls down,” the department said. “One injury (minor) with firefighters treating the patient.”

It lasted longer than Thursday’s earthquake

Bakersfield resident Giovanna Gomez was at home with her family when their house swayed and the water in her pool overflowed. They ran outside.
“It was about a minute long,” she said. “Far larger than the one that (happened) yesterday. It was a smooth roll going back and forth.”
Bakersfield is in Kern County about 110 miles from Ridgecrest. Donald Castle, who lives in Porterville west of Ridgecrest, said his house shook for nearly 25 seconds.

“It was more of a shake than what we had on the Fourth. It lasted longer and was more rolling,” he said.

What’s the damage?


Fires have broken out and emergency services are responding to calls across the state after the quake.
“We’ve got fires, we’ve got gas leaks, we’ve got injuries, we’ve got people without power,” Ridgecrest Mayor Peggy Breeden told Reuters news agency. “We’re dealing with it as best we can.”
There have been no reports of serious injuries so far, Police chief Jed McLaughlin said at a press conference.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department said reports suggested “damage is more significant than yesterday’s quake”, and said they were tackling blazes and gas leaks.
Officials said it was still unclear how much damage had been caused and how many people had been injured in the state.

What do we know about the new quake?

After Thursday’s event, seismologists had been warning that aftershocks could continue for a prolonged period of time.
Ridgecrest resident Jessica Kormelink told AFP news agency the ground would stop shaking briefly before “rolling again”.
“I’m not comfortable inside,” she said.


California is prone to earthquakes as it lies on a number of faults – regions where tectonic plates come together.

Quake raises fears of ‘the Big One’

Californians are on permanent alert for the ‘Big One’, a catastrophic earthquake that seismologists say is well overdue.
This latest series of quakes have caused relatively minor damage – that we are currently aware of – but they have rattled nerves, big time.
The latest was felt as far afield as Las Vegas in Nevada, Palm Springs to the east of Los Angeles, and Beverly Hills.


With a baseball game in progress at Dodger Stadium, in downtown LA, people fled from their seats as the building started to shake – although the players, apparently oblivious to what was happening, continued with the game.
This event serves as a wakeup call to residents of densely populated areas, like Los Angeles, that it is only a matter of time before the mighty San Andreas fault blows. A magnitude of 7.0 or higher in Los Angeles would likely cause widespread death and destruction.

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