California 6.4 Earthquake

http://scedc.caltech.edu/recent/Quakes/ci38443183.html

This area of San Bernardino County is where my father oversaw much of the earthquake retrofitting of the roads and bridges. The epicenter was near Trona, about an hour below death valley. That is about 11 miles from the China Lake Naval Weapons Center and about 9 miles from the BLM wild mustang holding corrals.

Oh gosh, this is scary!!

Oh boy, that is seriously scary.

~ I wondered why things were shaking . I thought it was the coffee ! Hope everyone is OK ...

My brother and his wife live in sight of Disneyland (Orange County), which is quite a ways from the epicenter. They say that they definitely felt it, but nothing fell. They also say that while there was a good deal of movement it wasn't combined with rapid acceleration, which is the combination most likely to do damage.

Aftershocks of up to 5.0 on the Richter Scale are predicted.

Margret

So sad to have the power out in the low desert - no AC Ridgecrest Community Hospital is evacuated for inspection. some areas must have power because there are cooling centers. lots of impoverished people there, especially in nearby Inyokern.
The media says Ridgecrest was the epicenter but it was closer to Trona and BLM horse facility

Ridgecrest just had a 6.9 and nearby Searles Lake had a 5.0 and 30 miles north, there was a 4.7 at Little Lake. My brother felt it in Vegas, my cousin felt it in AZ and my niece felt it in Orange County, CA. Here it was very rolling and lasted a long time - a sign of a big one but far away.
we had a 2.6 at 4 am only a mile away from our house. Fortunately, our county has much stricter building codes than San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

Update: the Ridgecrest quake has been updated to a 7.1!! our trees were swaying! the NBA game in Las Vegas was paused and the arena cleared.

Breaking news: they just reported a new earthquake, epicenter just a few miles from the epicenter of yesterday's quake. Magnitude 6.9! It was felt as far away as Las Vegas.

Margret

Margret said:

Breaking news: they just reported a new earthquake, epicenter just a few miles from the epicenter of yesterday's quake. Magnitude 6.9! It was felt as far away as Las Vegas.

Margret

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Excuse me - I see I was not the first to report this. I just saw it on the evening news.

Margret

Got an email from my brother in Orange County. Yesterday, all they felt were the S (for "Shear") waves; today they felt both the P ("Primary") and S waves, as well as feeling the distinct transition between P and S waves. On television they're showing at least one house totally destroyed by fire, and it looks like there are more fires happening. Most people near the epicenter are going around knocking on doors, making sure their neighbors are okay. I'm seeing no reports of deaths. That bears repeating: So far, NO reports of deaths. There have been injuries, though they aren't giving a count on those. So far none of the reported injuries are serious. Officials remain concerned about people in the hospital that was damaged, and are doing what they can to care for them.

Seismologists are now saying that this evening's quake was the primary quake; yesterday's was "just" a precursor quake. FEMA is getting involved (as it should), and everybody is bracing for yet more aftershocks. There's some fairly major road damage, and, as always, trailer parks have been hit hard.

And I'm not providing links because I'm getting most of this from the television - watching the breaking news coverage on MSNBC as I type.

Margret

~ At about 8:15 I thought I was on a ship ! The cats seemed to enjoy it. They got excited and started to play .. .

JamesCalifornia said:

~ At about 8:15 I thought I was on a ship ! The cats seemed to enjoy it. They got excited and started to play .. .

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Are you ok, James???

~ Hi Mia6 ... OK for now. Hope things settle down. The epicenter is where people really got the shake. I am quite far away but we rolled quite a bit. I know for sure I have crazy cats as they seemed undisturbed ! ´
Thanks for asking ...

We had a 3.3 yesterday morning, epicenter was about a mile down from our house. There were 3 quakes basically simultaneously going near Ridgecrest (150 miles from us but our closest Walmart & medical specialists) so we were feeling a sustained rolling (the S waves that Margret discussed). our trees swayed for a really long time - it was creepy. Those epicenters were near Ridgecrest (7.1), Searles Dry Lake (often featured in commercials) and Little Lake (near Coso Geothermal plant) - keep an eye on those!

I just heard a report on television that aftershocks are coming at a rate of one per minute today. They didn't say how strong the aftershocks have been. A seismologist was saying last night that there's something like a 10% chance of another (after?)shock of 7.0 or higher.

JamesCalifornia , I'm glad to hear the cats are taking it so well. How far away are you?

Apparently most of the people in Ridgecrest slept outside last night, for safety's sake; I imagine that will continue for a while. Hospital personnel also evacuated patients and were treating them in the parking lot last night.

Does anyone know of any charities that are accepting donations of food and bottled water and such for Ridgecrest? It sounds like people may be in need. Also, perhaps, sanitary supplies?

Margret

The Red Cross wants cash for donations. The Kern County Fire Department said the same. However, after what I saw with Red Cross and the Texas hurricanes, I'd rather wait to donate to the local churches or cat rescues.

catsknowme said:

The Red Cross wants cash for donations. The Kern County Fire Department said the same. However, after what I saw with Red Cross and the Texas hurricanes, I'd rather wait to donate to the local churches or cat rescues.

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I've been unwilling to channel any donations through the American Red Cross since 2001. After the twin towers went down the Red Cross solicited donations for victims of the attack, but then put the money into their general fund rather than actually giving it to the people it had been intended for. A lot of us had put our entire budget for charitable donations for the year into that one donation, so local charities lost out while the Red Cross got a windfall.

Margret

I am about 100 miles from Ridgecrest. The 4th of July one I didn't even notice, but I was in a movie theater so I probably thought it was bass from the movie. I did feel yesterday's. It seemed to last a long time but just rolling waves. The cats didn't even react during it, Link was just looking out the window the whole time. After both the cats climbed on top of me and fell asleep.

I worked in the non-profit world and I know how little actually goes to the cause, especially with the big ones. If you want to donate I'd recommend the local Lions Club in Ridgecrest, gf.me/u/tw8dzn , they live there and have volunteers already in the area. They will be donating any funds to the Salvation Army but have already discussed with the Salvation Army that the funds stay in the community.

Kieka - Lions Club is awesome -I wish that I'd thought of that myself! They know who needs it most. I looked up what Lions is doing in Ridgecrest - what a great organization
In TX, during Hurricane Harvey, my friend was volunteering at several help centers. Red Cross was handing out sandwiches, cracker packets and an apple plus a cheap blanket while the churches were giving actual homecooked meals -all donated by parishioners and friends.