By Phil Helsel
An earthquake rattled Southern California on Friday, the day after the most powerful earthquake in the region in two decades.
The United States Geological Survey said Friday's quake, which was felt in the Los Angeles area, had a magnitude of 7.1, and the epicenter of the temblor that struck at 8:20 p.m. was about 10 miles northeast of Ridgecrest.
That's 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.
Friday night, the power went out in Ridgecrest, a city of 27,600, around 100 miles north of Los Angeles, according to NBC 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.
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.
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.
Dr. Lucy Jones ✔@DrLucyJones This is the same sequence. 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
In the Los Angeles area, prolonged shaking and swaying was felt.
The Los Angeles Police Department tweeted "yet another earthquake" and said that it and city departments would be ensuring everyone in the city was safe. There were reports of power outages in the Los Angeles area.
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. Dodgers stadium seemed to shake and roll for nearly a minute as the crowd let out a roar.
Los Angeles International Airport said crews were inspecting facilities and runways, and there were no initial reports of damage or injuries.
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.
Lesser shaking was also felt in Los Angeles at 9:08 p.m. Friday, about an hour minutes after the 7.1-magnitude quake.
NBC
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