A 7.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Southern California on Friday, the day after the most powerful earthquake struck the region in two decades.
The earthquake could be felt from Las Vegas to the California coast and people as far away as Phoenix reported feeling the rumblings.
The epicenter of the temblor was about 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest, in the desert, the same area where Thursday’s earthquake was recorded. That 6.4 magnitude quake was called the strongest to hit Southern California since 1999, but Friday’s quake was more powerful.
Many residents in Ridgecrest, a city of 27,600 about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles, lost power Friday night, according to NBC News reporters in the area.
A man in Ridgecrest told NBC Los Angeles in a phone interview Friday night that “it was pretty bad, the whole house was shaking.”
“It was pretty scary,” the man, introduced as John, said.
Warren Cooper, who owns a wrought iron and handyman business in the Ridgecrest area, said his business suffered damage and his mobile home was “destroyed.”
“I lost my house today, I don’t know if I can even save it — and it sucks, because I just paid it off,” he said.
Cooper was outside with four friends when Friday’s powerful quake occurred.
He later checked on an 14-unit apartment building he takes care and sound everyone was OK. Cooper was helping direct traffic.
The San Bernardino County Fire District tweeted that calls were coming in from northwestern communities and that people were reporting “homes shifted, foundation cracks, retaining walls down.”
The fire district reported one minor injury and said firefighters were treating the patient. “No unmet needs currently,” the fire department said. Ridgecrest is in Kern County but on the the San Bernardino County border.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he activated the state’s Office of Emergency Services at the highest level, and is coordinating mutual aid to local first responders.
Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology and a former science adviser at the Geological Survey, tweeted that Thursday’s earthquake was a “foreshock,” and that Friday’s 7.1-magnitude earthquake was on the same fault as the earlier quake.
“You know we say we 1 in 20 chance that an earthquake will be followed by something bigger? This is that 1 in 20 time,” she tweeted.
People in the Los Angeles area felt a prolonged shaking and swaying. But there was no significant infrastructure damage or injuries in the city, the Los Angeles Fire Department officials said.
Friday’s earthquake struck during a Major League Baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in Los Angeles that was televised by Fox Sports. Dodger Stadium seemed to shake and roll for nearly a minute as the crowd let out a roar.
Los Angeles International Airport said there were no initial reports of damage or injuries and no flights were delayed.
Seismologists at Cal Tech said Friday afternoon that there had been around 1,400 aftershocks since Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude quake, with 17 of those with a magnitude of 4 or above.
A 5.4-magnitude aftershock was recorded Friday morning, seismologists said.
“The fault is growing. We ruptured a piece in the first earthquake, we ruptured a bit more on the 5.4 this morning, and we’re rupturing more now,” Jones said at a news conference Friday night. “It is moving toward the northwest, so away from the metropolitan area as far as we can tell.”
She said more earthquakes could occur, but she added that other quakes are most likely to be in the same area.
More shaking was felt in Los Angeles at 9:08 p.m. Friday, around 50 minutes after the 7.1-magnitude quake.
Dennis Romero contributed.