On Thursday California was struck by a powerful earthquake which measured 6.4-magnitude on the Richter scale. The earthquake was centered near Ridgecrest, 150 miles north of Los Angeles. The earthquake was the strongest that California has seen in the past two decades soon after the city’s Mayor and the governor declared an emergency for the state.
What followed
Following the earthquake, there was massive unrest as danger didn’t pass away. There were several Aftershocks which followed the earthquake. There were more than 170 Aftershocks recorded throughout Southern California. Aftershocks continued on Friday morning with the biggest one measuring 5.4, the US Geological Survey reported.
Fear of further danger
The US Geological Survey further added that there’s a 20% chance of an earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher occurring in the next week and an 80% chance of a magnitude 5 or higher quake hitting the state. What’s even more concerning is that USGS predicts The possibility of another earthquake equally as or more powerful hitting in the next week is 9%. According to USGS An earthquake of the same magnitude as this week’s has a high chance of producing an aftershock as large as a 5.4 magnitude, the agency said, and ten aftershocks with magnitude 4.4 or higher. Furthermore, in the next few days, there could be up to 700 aftershocks of magnitude 3 or higher, according to the USGS.
Loss and destruction
Also, USGS estimated that it is likely to see declines in the ballpark of $10 million to $100 million after Thursday’s Earthquake.
Many emergency crews had to deal with fire and other destruction throughout Southern California. Emergency services had a lot to deal with and were backlogged. Significant damage occurred in Ridgecrest. President Trump tweeted that he was fully briefed about the situation in California, and everything seems to be under control.
Been fully briefed on earthquake in Southern California. All seems to be very much under control!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2019