As I sipped my coffee and read about today’s upcoming “Salute to America” celebration in Washington, D.C., I felt the distinctive vibrations of a significant earthquake somewhere in Southern California.
I chuckled a little, as the seismic activity on this particular day seemed appropriate given the fact our politicians have made the Golden State the epicenter of the #Resist movement. It was the most massive quake to hit the region in 20 years.
The largest earthquake in two decades rattled Southern California on Thursday morning, shaking communities from Las Vegas to Long Beach and ending a quiet period in the state’s seismic history.Striking at 10:33 a.m., the magnitude 6.4 temblor was centered about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the remote Searles Valley area of Kern County….The quake was the largest with an epicenter in Southern California since the 7.1 Hector Mine quake struck the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base in 1999. The last earthquake felt as widely as Thursday’s was the magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Easter Sunday 2010 that had an epicenter across the border in Baja California.Before Thursday, it had been almost five years since the state experienced an earthquake of magnitude 6 or stronger. Experts had said the period of calm was sure to end, and when it did it would likely bring destruction.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) determined the earthquake occurred near Searles Valley, a sparsely populated area of our state. While this isn’t a significant shaker, regular reports of earthquake-caused fires and damage have been coming in around the hardest hit areas of Kern County.
The Kern County Fire Department said the Ridgecrest Regional Hospital was evacuated. The department said it was working nearly two dozens incidents ranging from medical assistance to structure fires in and around the city of Ridgecrest.Mayor Peggy Breeden said at least five fires broke out in the city of 28,000.“It almost gave me a heart attack,” said Cora Burke, a waitress at Midway Cafe in Ridgecrest. “It’s just a rolling feeling inside the building, inside the cafe. And all of a sudden, everything started falling off the shelf, glasses, the refrigerator and everything in the small refrigerator fell over.”
A little farther away, San Bernardino County officials report broken water mains and downed power lines.
Trona, an unincorporated community, “sustained varying degrees of damage” but no injuries have been reported, according to San Bernadino County Fire’s verified Twitter account.The department reported “minor cracks (in buildings); broken water mains; power lines down; rock slides on certain roads” in northwestern communities in the county.
Perhaps one of the saddest consequences of today’s earthquake was the inventory loss at the Eastridge Market liquor store.
The store owner’s son, Victor Abudullatif, tells ABC the quake woke the family up at their home in Burbank.”We have a German Shepherd, I thought it was my dog hitting the side of my bed,” he said. “Sometimes she gets into the house she’s an outdoor dog. And then I realized five seconds into it okay this is a full on earthquake.”Abudullatif says an employee sent them video of the damage.”Tons of bottles were damaged they were falling,” he said.They believe the damage to equipment and store items may be more than $100,000.
The shaking in San Diego was minimal.
I sure hope our Legal Insurrection fans also had a rocking Independence Day, but in a good way.
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