Happening in Southern California here for the next couple hours. Theres still reports of damage coming in. Julie banderas has that and all of the days news as we take a live look at washington d. C. Ahead of the big celebration. We begin with breaking news. An earthquake rattling Southern California and parts of nevada this afternoon. Im Julie Banderas in for shepard smith. Happy fourth to you. Emergency crews saying theyre getting dozens of calls ranging from reports of injuries to fires. Officials with the national Gee Logic Survey say it lasted about 60 seconds. Listen. I can feel it shaking. It was intense. Take a look at this video
from a liquor store in ridge crest. This is the first of many videos youll see pouring in today. This is near the epicenter. You can see the broken bottles on the floor. The shelves there rattled inten intensely. Anita vogel is reporting live with more. Julie, thats right, the earthquake struck at 10 33 local time in los angeles near the city of ridge crest in the Mojave Desert area in San Bernardino county. 2 1 2 hours or 150 miles from los angeles. We felt a slight shaking or rolling motion here in our los angeles bureau. It was soft and lasted, i would say, 10, 15 seconds. The good news is the lapd says they have not received calls or damage or injury. Thats the good news. Were hearing a different story in ridge crest. A town of 30,000 people, which again is right near that epicenter between the epicenter
being between ridge crest and china lake. The Associated Press is reporting 24 medical and fire incidents in ridge crest between bakersfield and las vegas. People felt this quake from las vegas all the way down to the pacific coast. Now, we dont know how serious those 24 medical calls are. Right now we can show you this video. You can see here its being uploaded on twitter, showing bottles falling off of shelves, shaking, damage like that. The u. S. Geological survey says there was a number of small foreshocks and quite sure after shocks that people should be prepared for. Dr. Lucy jones, seismologist from cal tech, says this was a good fire drill for everybody in the los angeles and Southern California area. Take a listen. I think this is a good time
to remind you that if you have been experiencing earthquakes for the last 20 years in Southern California, you have been experiencing an extremely quiet time in california history. The last time we had an earthquake in Southern California above magnitude 6 was 1999. The previous decade had had about eight magnitude 6s. This has been an extremely quiet abnormal time. This type of earthquake is much more normal. Now, were also hearing from the San Bernardino county Fire Department that theyre receiving reports of multiple buildings with minor cracks, broken water mains, power lines down, rock slides, varying degrees of damage. Some power outages. Cal tech says they did get a 48 second warning here in los angeles. Again, luckily here in los angeles, we dont have any reports of damage. As you heard, this was the largest earthquake in Southern California since 1999. That was a 7. 1 earthquake near barstow. Again a very desolate area in the middle of nowhere. This is one of the biggest quakes since the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. That was a 6. 7 magnitude quake. Julie, that one killed more than 50 people. Back to you. Thanks, anita. Were going to dip in to kttv, our fox affiliate in california. Youre in the little office. Your workers were describing these globe lights, too, hanging from the ceiling. You described them as shaking, swaying back and forth . Thats right. Came out here. They were moving after. I went out to the street to see if anyone else knew. The people next door drinking coffee. They didnt know anything. People that felt it and people that didnt, hit or miss. Talk about the duration. Yeah, id say maybe 10, 15 seconds. Felt long. 10, 15 seconds in an earthquake feels like 30 minutes or something. Its scary. Its that constant reminder that we live in a dangerous area and that it could happen at any time. The big one that were all anticipating. There was at least relieved it wasnt the big one. Be prepared a good reminder. Good thing a lot of the Liquor Bottles falling down at that liquor store, nothing like that here in l. A. , especially around this holiday. So clearly a big reminder, people talking about hey, we have to be ready and be prepared. A lot of people here in pasadena feeling it. Thats kttv reporting with a witness there. Well be joined by Jason Ballman who joins me on the phone. Hes a communications manager
for the Southern California earthquake center. Tell us right now about what the expected damage typically would be at an earthquake measuring 6. 4. Right now, we have the 6. 4 that occurred a couple hours ago. Dozens of after shocks, this is to be expected. When it comes to damage, after shocks can cause damage themselves and cause injuries. What were here to do is remind everyone i need to interrupt you. Were showing new video just coming in of a fire in ridge crest, california. Ridge crest is one of the areas around the epicenter of this earthquake. Crews have been relying to 24 medical and fire incidents near ridge crest, california. This looks to be a home. We heard there were no initial injuries, so we pray that anybody that was in that home either got out right after they
felt the quick or were rescued. Are you hearing anything at all regarding injuries considering were watching a home on fire right now . It makes you wonder if theres people that did not get out safely in time. I havent heard anything about any injuries being confirmed yet. This is an unfolding event. What this illustrates is that being prepared can help you reduce these kinds of things. If people can put together their kit, get that first aid and training and know how to use the fire extinguisher, know how to drop and cover when the earthquake happens. It will empower you to have Peace Of Mind when it occurs. We have a great website, earthquakecountry. Org. You can deal with earthquakes before they happen. Were showing you video coming in from ridge crest, california, a home on fire. Looks like the firefighters
there did get it under control. Theyre getting out most of the flames. Seems that its out. I want to talk to you. Jason ballman is on the phone with us, about the after shocks. That is a huge contender in something that when you have an earthquake, residents are not Out Of The Woods yet. Dr. Lucy jones from cal tech gave a News Conference earlier and talked about what people should expect. This is a 6. 4. Officials were saying it was a 6. 6. You could expect after shocks over 6. I understand that you can get 3. 5 earthquakes, at least ten of those from the earthquake. She said 100 2. 5. Yeah, were talking about general statistics from past events. Typically you get one, ten of the lower magnitude and then 100
4. 0s and then it goes up. Those are just statistics. In california, archaeology is complex. We have lots of faults all around us, hundreds. You know, the one that winterlier today caused the 6. 4, that is one fault. All of these after shocks are occurring on it. We have the san andreas. Dont get too obsessed worrying about the one that just happened. We could have another one at any time on any other fault. The location of the epicenter is very key to point out. You just brought up the andres fault. Would the aftermath be more severe . Depends the 6. 4. Yeah, the 6. 4 with the san andreas, depends on where it is. If its on the southern segment, we would have a lot of strong after shocks up to four minutes. From 6. 4 near ridge crest, in between the see sierras and the mojave, i felt it, in southwest l. A. County, i felt slowrolling shaking. It lasts 20 seconds. Based on what we know, that means its coming from a distant earthquake. Sure enough it was. People were stressed that they couldnt get on the usgs website. Theres so many people trying to get information right away. When you have millions all of a sudden try to visit a website, it cant handle it too well. It affects millions all at once sometimes. So Peace Of Mind comes from you knowing what to do and how to stay safe. In california, most people in
california, what we know, were looking at stats like youre more likely to be injured in a car accident on a daily basis than an earthquake. But the problem in california is injury and economic disruption. Were seeing that with some of the events infolding right now in ridge crest where the shaking was intense, around that area. A strong severe kind of shaking. Dr. Lucy jones talked about how we should not be surprised by this but some people might be because its been a very quiet time. The last earthquake of this magnitude was 1994. California has not experienced the level of earthquakes that they have in the past. If these aftershocks come in and somebody feels that rolling, thunderous feeling and theyre inside, what should you do . Drop, cover and hold on. Immediately you drop on your hands and feet. Cover your head and neck. If theres a sturdy table to get under, crawl that that and hold on. Thats what that means. Its an adaptable modifiable method. If youre driving, set the parking brake. Make sure youre not near a bridge or power line. A lot of people enjoying the beach. We have general ideas that if you feel shaking at the beach, evacuate to high ground. You never know if a tsunami is following that. Just stay safe. You brought up the fact that its fourth of july. A lot of people are outside. If youre not inside to crawl under a desk, if youre at the beach, you get away from the water in case of a tsunami. If that were to be the case, people would want to move away from the beach as quickly as possible. If youre outside enjoying a barbecue in your back yard, where many people are on this
holiday, what do you do in that particular instance . Its great. Yeah. In that instance, your best thing to do is drop on your hands and feet and crawl to an open space or get to an open space where things can fall on you and cover your head and neck and hold on to your head and neck until the shaking is over. Sounds crazy to say that, but you might have to hold your body and brace. In your car, pull over, set the parking brake. If youre on a train, public transportation, for example, or a bus or something, you can bend over. If you cant get on the floor of the bus or train. That protects your vital organs. Drop and bend over. Cover your head and neck and hold on to something or the pole next to you or a chair next to you until the shaking stops. Be careful. Sometimes they may feel small and feel the light rolling motion and maybe bigger shaking
is coming. Thats how they unfold sometimes. We never know. Its not like a tornado or hurricane where we can see it coming and gauge what we can do. So thats wait a minute after you drop, cover and hold on, wait and carefully get up. Most injuries after the Northridge Earthquake, most injuries were from people who freaked out, started running and tripping over things. Cutting their feet, that kind of thing. Be careful. Okay. We appreciate that. Those are not obvious tips. A lot of people wouldnt think that. Hey, if youre inside, run outside because the structure might collapse. We appreciate your tips. Thanks, jason, for taking the time to talk to us. Youre welcome. I want to go to jeff now, our meteorologist. Maybe you can explain Whats Going On underground that led to this and what will lead to the
aftershocks as well. Well, julie, we may be dealing with more aftershocks. Theres approximately, according to the geologists, about a 1 in 20 chance or a 5 chance that there could be a following earthquake soon that could be worse than that. More significant. A 95 chance that we wont see anything that matches the intensity of this recent 6. 4 earthquake. This was a big shakeup for a lot of folks. This was the first earthquake in Southern California of this magnitude in 20 years. So many folks have been migrating away from the northeastern u. S. , to the south and west. Theres a lot of new residents in Southern California. So earthquakes in the east coast, you might recall the one that happened near washington d. C. To the southern appalachians our Central Appalachians Seven or eight years ago. That was felt across a broader area. East coast earthquakes are translated across a large agree graphical area. This was felt across a sizable area but not felt in Salt Lake City or nevada. It was felt in fresno, los angeles and las vegas. Again, as the expert up on seismology before me mentioned, this is not necessarily it wasnt the San Andreas Fault. It was another fault to the east. Fortunately a loss populated area. Many people live in ridgecrest but if this were 200 miles west or southwest, different impacts obviously tied to this. Theres reports of a little more than 9,000 customers without power in Southern California and more than half of them are in kern county. Thats a concern. You can multiply that by 2 or 2. 4 for the number of people add
those addresses. We have some videos from the coast that shows in los angeles the pool sloshing here. A neat thing. This is described as a rolling motion in the ground due to the again, the slippage of the two plates here. So you can see the water is moving here. Theres nobody in here to get the water moving. That was the result of the earthquake. 150 miles from ten center. There will be some cleanup. The weather is dry this time of the year. Not much going on on radar. Nothing from a atmospheric standpoint that will slow things down. Fresno, cooler than average saturday and sunday. And death valley, its hot out there but this is business as usual for this time of the year. Back to you. Its interesting when we talk about the different fault lines and how that affects the magnitude of a quake or the effects of a quake, the after shocks of a quake, compare Southern California where this
particular earthquake occurred to past earthquakes in other parts of the state, where it is in Southern California, could it be a safer area where you wont see as much damagepotentially as you could in other areas. Well, at least one thing just to my mind is the New Madrid Fault in the midwest, in the early 1800s, there was a spectacular quick in kentucky, southern illinois, southeast missouri, were talking about an area south of st. Louis and west of paducah, kentucky. We dont associate that area with earthquakes. Theres a fault there. At some point its likely to repeat itself. Great concern in that area. Because of Building Construction and codes. In Southern California, the legislators and general contractors, they build to a different standard and that protects people there. Much more so than what could happen in areas like memphis. Recent years, were making Good Progress and building to a higher standard in carbondale, memphis, paducah and st. Louis because we could see Something Like this happen in our lifetime, maybe in our Kids Lifetimes that could be a huge surprise to the news cycle because it may not occur in Southern California then. Thanks, jeff. Anita vogel reporting live from los angeles now. So were getting more information about first of all fires being reported. So obviously the first thing that comes to mind is potential injuries. Are we hearing more about any potential casualties due to this earthquake . Yeah, julie, not at this time. Again, remember were not hearing of any injuries or damage in the l. A. Area. So were keeping our eyes and ears tuned to the ridge crest and china lake area. I can tell you there has been a report of a Water Main Break in los angeles. They say that that is possibly related. So we did have some shaking
here. It certainly could have caused the Water Main Break. More importantly, a 6. 4 plus after shock in the region. Over 30 aftershocks that measured a 3 magnitude. So this goes back to what dr. Lucy jones from cal tech had said. She said we would be experiencing many aftershocks and thats come to pass so 36 aftershocks so far. Thats an indication that there could be plenty more. One very important thing that she said during her Press Conference was, there could be a 5 chance, a 1 in 20 chance that this earthquake today was a foreshock for a more powerful earthquake. So we think that were Out Of The Woods here in Southern California. You know, the region where the epicenter was. But were still waiting to see
what will happen. We are still waiting to see about these reports of cracks in buildings, rock slides, power outages. So were getting reports of damage. So far, no reports of injuries. Hopefully thats the case for the rest of the day. Of course, this is still unfolding and were going to be finding out what happens in the hours ahead. Ridgecrest is 150 miles northeast of los angeles. People felt it in nevada. Lucy jones will have another News Conference in nine minutes. Did you feel it in los angeles . We did. We felt it. It was gentle here. Lasted about 10, 15 seconds. We all felt a rolling motion. We all came out into the hallway to see what was going on. We knew it was an earthquake immediately. Then it seemed to pass. There was no damage in our office. Again, the shaking was light. Lasted about 15 seconds. Im sure it was quite powerful near the epicenter. Weve been looking at video