Geordies heading for America have been given a warning after the largest earthquake in two decades rattled Southern California.
On Thursday morning the earthquake shook communities from Las Vegas to Long Beach and ending a quiet period in the state’s seismic history.
Striking at 10.33am, the magnitude 6.4 temblor was centred about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the remote Searles Valley area near where Inyo, San Bernardino and Kern counties meet. It was felt as far away as Ensenada and Mexicali in Mexico, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Reno and Chico, Calif.
Authorities said there were no immediate reports of deaths, serious injuries or major infrastructure damage, though emergency responders were inspecting areas around the city of Ridgecrest.
Now the British Government has given travel advice to those making a trip over there.
On the GOV.UK website it says: “USA Travel Advice – on Thursday 4 July, an earthquake struck southern California; the magnitude 6.4 tremor was centred about 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the remote Searles Valley area near where Inyo, San Bernardino and Kern counties meet; there have already been a number of aftershocks, and these are likely to continue; if you’re in the area, you should follow local media for updates and follow the advice of local authorities.”
Patients at Ridgecrest Regional Hospital were evacuated “out of an abundance of caution,” hospital Chief Executive James Suver told The Los Angeles Times.
About 20 patients were transferred to other facilities while seismic engineers inspected broken pipes in the facility.
“For true emergencies, we will stabilize them and then get them to the right level of care,” he said.
Ridgecrest, a community of about 29,000 known to many skiers as a pit stop on the way to Mammoth, was inundated with offers of help, from neighbouring towns, congressional leaders such as Rep.
Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Kamala Harris and even the White House, said Mayor Peggy Breeden.
“With all this cooperation … we expect we will be able to move on to this and not see too many awful things happen,” she said.
The quake, estimated to have been felt by some 15 million people, was the largest with an epicenter in Southern California since the magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine quake struck the Mojave Desert in 1999, about 35 miles north of Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base.
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.
