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 from stores in the area. Peoples cell phones in their homes. Weve seen video of a pool and the water shaken up. So you can only imagine how scary this was right near the epicenter. A 6. 4 is a powerful earthquake. Remember the Northridge Earthquake here in 1994 was 6. 7. That caused major devastation throughout los angeles and killed more than 50 people. We just got new video, that is coming in from a store inside ridgecrest. You talked about how powerful the earthquake had to be in ridgecrest. This is the aftermath of the 6. 4 quake that basically struck right near the town of
ridgecrest. This is here near the Mojave Desert. Everything on the floor. You dont see anybody in there. Had to be shoppers test. In most cases when it comes to earthquakes like this, youre inside and people should get on the ground and take cover, you can get hurt by the flying debris. That injure you. Thats why youre supposed to take cover if you feel an aftershocks. We talked about that. Dr. Lucy jones talked about how there could be 100 2. 5s. I like that you pointed out. This could be a prequake. There could be a larger one looming at a 6. 5. Does anybody know . Theres seismologists that detect these things but how accurate are they . Stand by. Im getting some information about a possible warning for another earthquake. This is coming from kern county. Kern county fire says another earthquake has been predicted in or around kern county. For location, kern county is about two hours north of los angeles. The largest city there is bakersfield. Thats in the region where this quick struck this morning. So this is rather alarming piece of information that has come out. I guess this is good warning for People Living in that area. You might want to do what you can to prepare. Perhaps start gathering bottled water, moving out of the way where you can be hit by Falling Debris. I dont know what theyre basing this on. We know that cal tech talked about an Early Warning system. Los angeles got about 48 seconds this morning. Theyre talking about 15 minutes. Something possibly happening in the kern county area. Julie okay. Where is kern county . Kern county is about two hours north of los angeles. The largest major city there is bakersfield. Its a rural area but its also an urban area. Its a much smaller area than los angeles. Bakersfield is a sizable medium city in california and surrounded by farmland and lots of agriculture. So lots of people live in that area. I dont have an exact town. Its considered a medium urban area. Julie how close is that to ridgecrest . Can you guesstimate . I would say bakersfield to ridgecrest is probably about an hour, an hour apart. Im hearing theres roughly 380,000 People Living in kern county. In bakersfield, excuse me. Julie so this gives you a good map, if you would, of the wideranging effects that an earthquake like this has. The original earthquake, the 6. 4 registered in ridgecrest, california near the town of ridgecrest. Now were hearing officials are saying a hospital is being evacuated and residents are being warned of a pending earthquake that could happen in the next 15 minutes near bakersfield in kern county. Which is as you just mentioned, about an hour to two hours away from ridgecrest . Yeah, from ridgecrest, its about an hour from ridgecrest. So still very much in the same region. Julie interesting. Unfortunately, i dont have any more detail about this alert that came out from the kern county Fire Department. Again, i just want to read it. Came out about three or four minutes ago. Its an Emergency Alert. It says another possible earthquake has been predicted in the next 15 minutes near kern county. Julie so if youre hearing this alert and in kern county, heres what you do. Earlier we talked to the Communication Manager for if Southern California earthquake manager. If youre inside, get down and cover. If youre near a desk or an object or hard wall, get under it or near it and try to cover your head and shoulders. With a 15minute headsup on this, if youre driving anywhere, the idea is to get somewherer with youre not near a structure. If youre at the beach, get away from the water. If youre outdoors, try to get anywhere away from any hanging opens over you, get away from trees, buildings. Try to just get in a clear enough area as possible. You mentioned in kern county,
its a very rural area. So if youre out in a field, thats probably the safest spot you could be. Is that what would describe kern county . You mentioned its very rural. Yeah, its rural. Of course, we have the city of bakersfield in kern county. Its the fifth largest city in california. That is an urban area. Let me bring your attention to Something Else that just came in. Were hearing theyre evacuating the Ridgecrest Hospital as we speak. Earlier i mentioned we had received reports that a number of buildings in that area had sustained multiple cracks and things like that. So were not sure why theyre evacuating that hospital. That information has just come in to the newsroom. So that is something definitely to take note of as well. Julie so if youre just joining us, kern county Fire Department, they are warning that an Emergency Alert is going out to residents in the area,
another possible earthquake has been predicted within the next 15 minutes in or near kern county. Kern county is 130 miles northeast of l. A. Anita reporting Ridgecrest Hospital. That hospital is being evacuated. So if there are any injuries such as in this home there was this fire that were showing that firefighters have successfully put out, if theres any injuries, anita, and where the epicenter of this was near ridgecrest, what nearby hospital then would people be told to go to if they have an injury considering where this earthquake happened, their hospital is now being evacuated. Yeah, thats a pretty rural area, julie. There wouldnt be another hospital immediately in that area. They would have to transport those people somewhere that is quite a distance away to the next urban area. Im not really sure about that. Im really anxious to find out
why theyre evacuating that hospital. When we find that out, well get back to you. Anita vogel, thanks very much. A fox news alert. Were watching an earthquake which has rattled a large swath of Southern California. The quake measuring with a preliminary magnitude of 6. 4. It struck today, this morning near the town of ridgecrest, california, about 150 miles northeast of los angeles. Weve just been notified that fire that you see has been put out. Thats a home in ridgecrest. Theres been dozens of fire and emergency and medical calls that have been made. Likely that wont be the only Fire Firefighters have to put out today. The kern county Fire Department has issued an alert. Another possible earthquake is predicted in the next 15 minutes. That alert came down at 3 22
eastern time. In under five to ten minutes, that potential alert for a potential pending second earthquake could be looming. If youre in kern county, 130 miles northeast of los angeles, youre told to evacuate. If youre in a structure and you feel the rolling feeling, if youre in a structure to get under Something Like a desk. If youre outside, get away from any potential Falling Debris like debris off a building or a sign, in a store like this one in ridgecrest, where everything literally flew off the shelf, thats where injuries happen. You get hit by flying debris. Or if youre in your car, drive to an area that is open and pull over. Pull up your Emergency Brake so you can secure your car and stay as safe as possible. Between 5 to 10 minutes that
second could hit kern county. This is jeffery here from yale university, this warning that were getting from the kern county Fire Department, its a bit alarming when you hear of an Emergency Alert of another. I want to make emphasis on the word possible here. Another possible earthquake being predicted in kern county. What does that say to you . That alert says to me, after youve had an earthquake of this size, magnitude 6 or so, that you expect to have further tremors and sharp earthquakes that occur afterwards. Not usually as large as the first one but large enough to cause damage. And to especially if structured are weakened to cause additional damage that could be dangerous. People have to be careful in the next day or two. Julie so if this could potentially be a prequake. Maybe the earthquake that hit in california today, the 6. 4 could potentially be the precursor to
something larger coming. Is that likely . That is a possibility. Because there have been earthquakes in this portion of the Southern California where theres a complex system of faults that are all connected to a bend in large scale San Andreas Fault where theres a major tectonic plate boundary. It occurred in the 90s that a modest earthquake may be along one portion of the fault that was not a precursor but did precede by a few months a much larger earthquake going up to a magnitude 7. The question now is why residents didnt get a proper warning. Were getting a warning now in kern county. Why no warning about today
this mornings earthquake . Most come without very much warning. At least with the currents understanding of how they work. Even the largest ones will often come out of really nowhere in terms of a shortterm precursor. We know which areas of faults are active. We know that they have probabilities of earthquakes occurring. But we dont always know when the earthquakes are imminent. Theres a shake alert l. A. App. Apparently some people in los angeles residents are wondering if the app actually failed. Were going to listen now and go back to dr. Lucy jones with cal tech. Lets listen. Were just getting an update about this mornings earthquake. Searles valley earthquake, near ridgecrest. We have some updates in terms of aftershocks. We have more about potential damage. We still do have geologists in the field but we havent gotten word back yet and we have some updates in the shake alert system. Lucy, why dont you start in terms of the activity so far. Okay. So on the aftershocks that weve been recording, so far we have 30 above magnitude three and 6 above magnitude four. This is a very robust sequence. On the theory that when you have a lot of earthquakes, you have a lot of earthquakes. We try to estimate the rate of aftershocks and what were recording. From that, we have an 80 of a magnitude 5. About a 9 chance that something larger than 6. 4 could occur over the next week. Thats just saying this is a big sequence which shouldnt be surprising anybody who has been watching Whats Going On the
last two hours. We also have locations on some of them. Thats where we were trying to get up this map here. Its interesting. It does look like we might be seeing two different faults. Yeah, if you would to that. So the main shock was in the middle at the intersection between those two strands. So we think the main fault was rupturing down towards the southwest, which would have focused the energy towards ridge crest. Then theres also a second fault that seems to have been activated going up to the northwest. Again, this area that is not completely surprising. Look at the little black lines in there. Theres a bunch of them. This is an area with a lot of little faults in a complex area moving apart. It does suggest that ridgecrest
was particularly hard hit. We have reports from California Office of Emergency Services that there are there seems to be a couple of Structure Fires going on in ridgecrest and theyre responding to them. Theres a Small Community called trona, which is closer to the ruptures and its on a dried lake bed. We dont have any communication with them yet. That would be a place where theres significant damage. As i said, were seeing two faults involved. This area is characterized by robust sequences. So we expect to be seeing a lot of earthquakes today and some of them could be damaging. Probably one more that is damaging. Kern county tweeted something that they anticipated a quake in 16 minutes. Theres nothing that gives us the time of a particular event. Im going to tell you, i think
there will be a magnitude 5 today. I did that on northridge. People said they predicted the earthquake. I said i predicted rain in hawaii, too. When the probabilities are this high, you know, then you can say yes, there will probably be a magnitude 5 today. Its not the time of any particular event. Theres nothing. If somebody is giving out a time, theyre not basing it on science. Okay . Thats probably what weve got about the aftershocks. The geologists havent gotten out. We dont have a report on that. Besides, you noticed two aftershocks showed up. I just saw the two red dots that showed up here. This type of behavior is relatively common. Back in 1987, we had two magnitude 6s on conjugate
faults. The way it works. If im pushing in this way, i can move out here or out here. We call it conjugate faulting. Its a common feature. Well just have to see. Were two hours into this sequence. Well see how it develops. What about the shake alert app . Have you gotten any closer to understand something. Yeah, give an update about that. Maybe a little bit of misunderstanding or miscommunication. The system worked as designed. So an alert was sent out by the u. S. Geological survey. The app or the city of l. A. Is set up with various thresholds. The first threshold is a magnitude 5 earthquake or greater in l. A. County. It will send out an alert. This earthquake was outside l. A. County. It didnt satisfy that condition. The other condition is intensity greater than 4. The intensities in l. A. Were 3 and lower. So the app perform as designed. Its just the intensity levels were below that threshold that were set by the app. So the system actually worked as designs. Its something that we need to look into though as to whether maybe that threshold should be lowered or adjusted for the future. Just to reiterate though, there was no the level of shaking within the city of l. A. Was not damaging. So in that sense, the app worked as designed. So if it was lower. Yes. What would we have seen on the app . What so for example, if it had been intensity 3, people would have got notification to expect shaking. I dont know the exact wording on the app. There would have been a significant 45 seconds. Yeah, 45 seconds before the shaking aarrived. So the alert would have worked beautifully in that sense. Again, the Shaking Levels would not have been damaging. Certainly would have been great to know ahead of time. Sound or a text or im not sure its never gone off on my phone. Im not sure. I think theyre they were going to be using a chiming alert that was used in japan. There was im not sure what they ended up using. Im guessing the issue could
not lowter level because you dont want them to get so many alerts that people dont Pay Attention when they get them. Right. This has been studied people didnt hear that question. Just to repeat, the question was the reason why potentially that the alert level isnt set lower so you dont have a large number of alerts with minimal shaking. That is correct. This is a subjective judgment. So in designing the app, you have to make a decision on that. Theres a fair amount of research looking at places like japan and mexico. Theres some sense that people dont mind getting an alert even if the shaking is not that severe, which would have been the case here if it had been set to intensity 3. So this is something that maybe we need to, again, needs to be looked at, tweaked on the
system. So to clarify, because theres been some talk about two earthquakes today. If you can okay. Theres been hundreds of earthquakes today. For a while, the website showed two magnitude 6. 4s. So the way the system works, theres a lot of us recording earthquakes around the world. We have a system that if somebody else puts up an alert and theres always the chance the great pasadena earthquake means were not giving out anything. You want somebody else to say it if were not here. So theres a system to negotiate that. There was a warning. We think it was from the Tsunami Warning Center actually. The timing usually the system can recognize the same earthquake. If one of the systems gets the time a little off, then they look like different earthquakes
and the automatic system allows it to go in. For a short time, there were two alerts, one from us, one from the Tsunami Warning Center. When we recognized it was there, we cleaned it up. That was not getting rid of an earthquake, by the way. I heard the Conspiracy Theorists about that its just that we cleaned it up. Just to clarify additionally, we had been just talking about two faults and so forth. Thats still the case. Right. Were not [question inaudible] not until we get a geologist on the ground. Occasionally theres reports about faults that we dont know about. We know a lot of faults in this area. If you look again at the picture its disappeared. The if we could reload the page, i would guess. Look up in that area. Theres lots of little marks. Its one of the areas with a dense distribution of mass
faults. So before im going to talk about an unknown fault, i need a geologist to say how does this line up with what we know about. Is it relevant not to us. I think its a psychological issue. If its an unknown fault, we didnt know makes it scarier. The reality is we have a lot of little faults that never get named because theyre too small until you get an earthquake. Was this one particularly strong for that area . This earthquake is the large nest the little lake area in the last century. But in general, the owens valley, the Gee Logic Structures up there have had earthquakes like this. Mammoth historically has had dozens of magnitude 6s. Is as a that area, largest earthquake in 100 years. Does that make it unusual . No. From geology, we need to look at millennia to say what is standard. [question inaudible] were waiting for the picture to show up. Its theres one level at which its simple. The geologists, presuming theres faults, well be mapping it in detail the next month. Are they in trucks or helicopters or trucks. We dont have enough money to send helicopters. Theyre in trucks. The National Guard does. Yeah, not the geologists. Look at our budget some time. Theyre on route. Theyre on route. As soon as we have information regarding fault offsets, well provide it hopefully in the next
briefing or so. Since we dont have pictures yet, can you illustrate what that is going to look like . What a seismologist would want to take a photo of . Well, yeah, were speculating a little bit here in that we dont you think . We dont know yet if this fault ruptured to the ground surface. Magnitude 6. 4s in california sometimes break all the way to the ground surface. Sometimes dont. Until we have some definitive information. If it did break up to the ground surface, what we should see is where two sides of the ground that were close together would have slid horizontally. There may be some vertical displacements as well. Given the force that we have recorded, the its the
horizontal motion. How does that information help you . Obviously in terms of damage, if you have a pipeline or structure that moves sideways, that could be devastating. I dont know if that is the case here. Also in terms of the Ground Shaking that was experienced in the ridgecrest area, lucy talked about how the earthquake started to the northeast. Propagated to the southwest towards ridgecrest. With this type of horizontal motion that can be amplified. Again, until we actually get some definitive information from some folks there, i cant be sure about that. It is a possibility. We now do a better job of correlating what we get from our instruments with what is recorded in the ground. Used to be we needed the
geologists in the felt to tell us what happened on the fault. In fact, the details. We would get more details by walking down that fault than well everybody get from an instrument. Over many years of recording them and comparing them, we have a guess that magnitude 6. 4 is partially a statement of how much slip happened, how much we expect. At that magnitude with this fault length, its on the order under a meter but half a meter. So a couple feet. So its potentially a big offset. The question is whether its confined and whether it made it up to the surface. Theres been hypotheses that if it comes to the surface, you get a different shaking pattern than if it doesnt. Not all not every one agrees with it. So thats an interesting piece of scientific testing that can go on because of it. What is your knowledge of this in terms of how deep it is . Faults most faults we dont. We dont know what fault it is yet. If it is the little lake fault that is mapped at the surface. Its some previous earthquake that has come through to the surface. Most earthquakes begin about five to ten miles below the surface. Its difficult to get a big earthquake close to the surface. Theres not enough pressure. If a fault could open up, you cant have an earthquake. The earthquake is shaking just like snapping your fingers. Try to snap your fingers when they open up. You dont make a sound. If the all the opens up, you wouldnt produce any shaking. At the surface, theres its not action confined. The earthquake happened deeper down. Most faults in california extend at least from the if we map it at the surface, probably goes ten miles down and probably more than that. Just gets deeper down, it
behaves differently. A Lot Of Ancient Volcanic History of little lake, correct . Not so little lake is a volcanic region. Theres active volcanics. The China Lake Weapons Center runs a Geo Thermal Plant there. Theres magna at depth which has been used to tap for geothermal energy. What would you say is your prediction of a likelihood of a quake above 6. 4 . 9 . Over the next week. If we get through a day, then well be a lot lower. Its not an even thing over the week. Most likely time is right now. As we see we arent at the moment. The rate of after shocks is
substantially lower than the first briefing. They die off quickly with time. Any other questions . Wrap it up. Thank you. At 2 00 well come back and see if we have more information. Quickly. Sorry. The China Lake Naval weapons station, you say the damage is highest in ridgecrest are. You fearing any damage at the naval station . Damage does not get reported to us. We have a phone call julie weve been listening to dr. Lucy jones from cal tech. Shes been talking about potential aftershocks. She talked theres an 80 chance of a magnitude 5, a 9 of a larger one in the next week. The first time in 100 years this area has seen an earthquake of this magnitude. Is it a big deal when you look at Californias History . No. Its not a reason to be alarmed but on the look out for aftershocks as this is the first time this particular area has experienced a 6. 4 magnitude or anything close to it. So we will continue to watch this here on fox as the news unfolds. Meantime, we will not forget that today is the fourth of july. We remember all of those in california that are out today celebrating when this all happened. Everyone from coast to coast celebrating our nations independence. We are live in Coronado California near the u. S. S. Midway Aircraft Carrier where abby got to fly a simulator with a retired pilot. Hi, abby. Hi, julie. Yeah, that was such an incredible experience. I cant even explain to you with words. That u. S. S. Midway has 4,500 people back in the day when it was active. 10 of those are pilots. A narrative that we dont hear that often. So to hear that from a guy that
has taken off and land from four different carriers and hear what its like to be aboard the u. S. S. Midway is a special experience for me. Take a look. So you served on four Aircraft Carriers, not midway. Tell me what it was like to be a pilot. Actually a lot of fun. Sometimes not so much fun. Landing daytime, a nice day, its a lot of fun. When the weather is bad and the deck is slick and the sun goes down, its not fun. Thats when you earn your flight pay. Im standing here. The length is three football fields. The landing area is about the size of a tennis court. Yeah, you have to touchdown in it. This is the first thing you hit. The cables, theres three of them. They go across the deck. Theyre held up about five inches. The wheels go over it and the cable is grabbed and it stops you. You had about 250 sailors to make it work. Its incredibly noisy. Everything is done with hand signals. You dont know the crewmen out there but they have their critical jobs. They all have different colored jerseys on. That tells them what your job is. The most interesting one is a yellow shirt. Theyre the taxi directors. Youre always in control. You cant see from the cockpit where you are. Theyll park you within an inch of where you need to be. You learn to trust them. And you never really retire from the military. Theres some Flight Simulators down there. A way you can take me for a spin . Im sure we can do that. Okay. He didnt know what he got himself into. Lets do it. Okay. Are you scared . I hope not. Im not scared. I am restless. I was born ready. Rafe, you ready . Oh you didnt hit anybody. Blame it on you. Its rafe. Im flying like an expert and rafe is not shooting anyone down. Captain abby signing off. Julie you did a great job. Great as a cocaptain. Im Julie Banderas in for shepard smith. Continue to watch the coverage of the california earthquake. Well have updates on fox. Your world is next. Like my bike, and my calves. Liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. When you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea try new Pepto Liquicaps for fast relief and ultracoating. Nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea get powerful relief with new pepto bismol liquicaps