Update at 2:30pm:
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Veteran seismologist Lucy Jones says the earthquake Thursday was the strongest to hit Southern California in 20 years.
She says the previous large quake was a 7.1 on that struck in the area on October 16, 1999.
Jones told reporters at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, that the 6.4 quake centered in the Mojave Desert near the town of Ridgecrest was preceded by a magnitude 4.3 temblor about a half hour earlier.
She says it was vigorous aftershock sequence occurring and that she wouldn’t be surprise if a magnitude 5 quake occurred during the aftershocks.
There were reports of at least one house fire in Ridgecrest.
Officials in the area say emergency crews are responding to at least 24 medical and fire incidents in the aftermath.
There were no immediate reports of injuries in the Los Angeles area, which is about 125 miles southwest of Ridgecrest.
Original story:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A large earthquake has rattled a large swath of Southern California. There are no immediate reports of damage.
The quake measured with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck Thursday morning near the town of Ridgecrest, California, about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
People from the desert to the Pacific coast in Southern California reported feeling it.
The earthquake was also felt in neighboring Nevada.
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