CALIFORNIA (REUTERS) – Some building damage was reported after the US Geological Survey (USGS) said a powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit Southern California on Friday (July 5), a day after the strongest quake in the region in 25 years.

The quake hit the town of Ridgecrest on the edge of Death Valley National Park 202 km (125 miles) northeast of Los Angeles. It was also measured at 7.1 by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Agency.

The San Bernadino County Fire Department reported that the quake had caused some damage to buildings.

“Homes shifted, foundation cracks, retaining walls down,” the department said on Twitter. “One injury (minor) with firefighters treating patient. No unmet needs currently.”

A swarm of strong aftershocks have jolted the high desert region since a 6.4 quake on Thursday. Only a few injuries were reported in Thursday’s quake but two houses caught fire from broken gas pipes, officials said.

The Los Angeles commuter rail service Metrolink said on Twitter it has stopped service in the city of 4 million people for the time being.

Pools in Los Angeles sloshed wildly and TV cameras at baseball’s Dodger Stadium were shaking as they filmed the night game with the San Diego Padres.

Thursday’s quake during America’s Independence Day celebrations was the largest in Southern California since the 1994 magnitude 6.6 Northridge earthquake, USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso said.

That quake, which was centered in a heavily populated area of Los Angeles, killed 57 people and caused billions of dollars of damage.

Source: Read Full Article