Again, we were on our way to a story. Hi, sir. Did you just feel that earthquake we had. Yes. A short time ago. Yeah. Tell us tell us where you were going and what kind of sensation it was for you. Oh, i was in my office down there. I felt a very strong shake. You fet a strong shake. Did you feel the earthquake yesterday. No, yesterday i was in a boat some he didnt feel it. You were on a boat yesterday. Yeah. So today, can you tell us kind of what kind of feeling was it and for you, did it feel like it went on for a long time . It was fairly long. Its like a swinging movement. And its kind of weird, but at first i thought its like, i was in a boat so i thought i was sea sick or something but it was
fairly strong. So you were on a boat yesterday. You already have some boat legs going on. So again, we are here in anaheim. Were on our way to another story, an officer involved shooting Down The Street on the 91 freeway when we stopped at this carls junior, a lot of people definitely feeling that one. A strong Swaying Motion that went on for at least 30 secs. Guys, back to you. So strong, healthy. We now understand that the second earthquake that we felt again as you see on your screen, it was the initial reports and it tends to always get downgraded was a 7. 1 and certainly everybody would agree thats what it felt like but it is now a 6. 9. Healthy, thank you very much. Were going to go to Jonathan Gonzales up in our newsroom and jonathan, what do you know on your end as i toss to you, i can tell that you we have just heard from lax. They are now inspecting every runway after the 6. 9 quake. That is certainly understandable as First Responders throughout
Southern California and throughout the state of california are responding to this. Robert, we were speaking with mayor garcetti yesterday. When erg quakes like these happen, even if we dont feel as strong they felt it out in ridge crest. Theyre making sure that everything is structurally safe. You have all the Fire Departments and Police Departments making sure their structures and buildings are safe so they can continue to operate. No doubt right now l. A. X. Is taking steps right now to determine that it is safe enough to fly out of there and, of course, land planes. It is something i guarantee is happening right now. Were still waiting on word from them and monitoring social media to see what people are feeling. I was out in the burbank area, instantly felt shaking and noticed it was is not stopping. We knew it was bigger than a smaller aftershock wed been feeling like the one this morning, the 5. 4. We started making our way to the studio with some colleagues. One thing we heard earlier even from that person that beverly was speaking with is people who
have lived in Southern California a long time were used to earthquakes and anticipate them. There were 56,000 people tonight at the dodger game and whats crazy was that the donors kept playing once that Earthquake Hit in the bottom of the fourth inning. I dont know if we have the video. Lets see it here. Thats four strikeouts for eric lawyer. Two gone here in the fourth for keke hernandez. And theres shaking were seeing in the cameras and that were feeling here at dodger stadium. I think weve got another earthquake. We definitely have an earthquake going on. Its a pretty good one, too. People in the upper deck are moving a little bit. I would not want to be sitting in one of the first rose
in the upper deck. I guess we kind of are. 6. 4 magnitude the other day. How are they continuing to play baseball . I dont understand how the players cant feel it. Maybe its feel it more the higher up you are. You can see that shaking there. I dont know if it was joe in the booth there. You can hear them ask the question, how are they still playing baseball. We love dodgers crowds. They were making that shaking it was def the earthquake. The padres and dodgers playing right now. They continued. As far as i know they have not stopped the game for any reason. That game has continued. You see people in the crowd looking at each other the way we all did. Are we feeling another one . Is this what we think it is. Thats the feeling we get if youve grown up in Southern California. Were following Breaking News out of the los angeles area
right now where you can see there, this is a dodgers game at the stadium and you can visibly see it shaking. We understand that yesterdays 6. 4 magnitude quake was actually a foreshock followed by a 5. 0 followed by tonights 7. 1 earthquake and we also understand there has been a 5. 5 aftershock. So lets welcome john vidally, a professor of seismology at usc. He is joining us by the phone right now. Can you take us through this sequence of events and describe what they mean . At the ontario airport. 6. 4 yesterday. Foreshocks, 5. 5 aftershock at 4 00 a. M. This morning and just now, we had the 7. 1 earthquake basically in the same place extending the fault that seemed to break yesterday. And it had a large foreshock and
its having continuing aftershocks. So this area out near ridge crest is getting hit hard. Is there any way of knowing what to expect next . We have to give the same answer. Theres a small chance, a 5 chance or so something bigger might come. Quite a small chance, but thats our best forecast. Well watch the developing size nisity and see how it falls off but i wish we were able to predict earthquakes. Well, what were looking at right now the inside of a restaurant where the chandeliers are swaying. What i have been listening to is people describing a feeling of seasickness, not really shaking but like a swaying. What does that mean . Well, its because were a long way away from where the earthquake be happened, more than 100 miles away. A lot of the really jittery motions in the waves coming to us. The waves last quite a while partly because they spread out. The earthquake probably takes 15 or 20 seconds. Ground breaking. This event shook longer than the one yesterday and i guess maybe twice as strongly in the l. A. Basin. So where did the earthquake actually happen . Its out in the same place as yesterday. Just a little bit to the east north of ridge crest. So out on the farside of the Sierra Nevada, southern end of the mountains. Describe what kind of damage comes from something of this magnitude. What are we talking about structurally for roads, bridges, buildings, et cetera . Well, its a. 71. The buildings right nearby will be quite hard hit. Its highly variable. Just because its a magnitude
7. 0 couldnt mean we know how strong the shaking is right next to it. Thats Strong Enough a lot of Old Buildings could be badly damaged. I think New Buildings probably would do okay. It could be landslides and settlement. And its just going to take time to figure out whats happening in terms of pipes and power lines and water lines breaking. But being close to magnitude 7. 0 causes a lot of damage. I understand the mayor has been sending out First Responders as you can see. Theyre literally going door to door Checking Homes and roads. How long does Something Like that take . And also, what is recommended for people in the area to do right now . Well, they should sit tight. You know, if theyre in a fragile structure get out and move to the open air. There could be and probably will be lots more aftershocks theyll feel. So they should be i guess be
making sure they take what water they have and their toilets and Water Heaters and making sure they know how to use it. I think just stay put and you know, try not to disrupt the efforts of people rushing around fixing things. I guess just be ready for aftershocks. Theres not that much special to do aside from preparing what they can prepare. As far as earthquakes go, what does a 7. 1 mean as compared to a different number, higher or lower . Is this how significant is the number 7. 1 . Well, just for comparison, the 6. 4 yesterday probably only had about a fifth of the Energy Release so this event is much bigger. It looks like the fault that broke was 20 or 30 miles long. It probably moved three or four
yards, three or four meters. In this earthquake. You know, its not nearly as long as the big one in Southern California which would be 200 or 300 miles of the San Andreas Fault system, not just 20 or 30 kilometers. But 7 is as big as anything weve had in the past couple of decades. We have to go back to the 90s And Landers Earthquake to find the last one close to this big. All right. Professor john vidale, thank you very much for all that information. We appreciate it. Good luck. Thank you. Lets go to lester holt, Nbcs Lester Holt who is in santa monica. Hi, lester. Good evening. What did you experience . Well, i was with my wife and one of my sons. We were in a Movie Theater in downtown santa monica, and began to feel a tremble. I held my wifes hand. We looked at earthquake, there
was no panic, you could hear everyone in the theater saying the same thing. Then it seemed to kick into a second gear and then people started to get up. We you know decided to get out. Theres something freaky about an earthquake in a dark theater. Everyone was orderly. We made our way to the stair well. And i went down several floors to the street level. There was no panic. There was one woman who was sobbing, was you know, very distraught. Understandably. But we got on the street and it was hard to tell who felt what. If youre out on the town, maybe you didnt feel it. But across the street, there was a hotel. We could see people gathered in the lobby around the tv watching the local News Coverage of this. I just spoke to one of my neighbors who was here in our building who talked about this is the strongest one she has felt and it was absolutely scary. Neighbors were knocking on doors
checking on other neighbors here. So it was ive been in a lot of quakes and a lot of parts of the world. This one got my attention. Ill tell you that. Did you feel the aftershock . And as a person who has been through this sort of thing before, do you have any kind of understanding what to expect from here out . Well, its a little confusing. I was just watching some of the coverage. My understanding is that, please back me up on this is theyre now saying what we experienced yesterday was a foreshock and what would happen here within the hour was the actual quake. Ive never quite seen that happen that you would go from a large quake to an even larger quake as an aftershock or a foreshock. You know, thats out of my wheel house. But last i heard there had been 1400 aftershocks from the event yesterday and there were two smaller ones before that. There was one apparently in the middle of the night around 4 00
a. M. My wife and i both woke up and didnt know why. It must have been that one. Keep in mind im in santa monica. Im standing where i am right now is about a black and a half from the beach. About 120 miles from ridge crest. The epicenter of this latest quake. The fact that we felt it this strong folks, ive spoken to were all looking at each other saying what if this had been closer to los angeles, 10, 15 Million People here. What that would have been like. I think its certainly raise agawareness now of our vulnerability to these things and looking around at construction and all the Earth Quake Retrofitting over the last several decades and really making people consider that question are we prepared. Have you seen any of what mayor gil garcetti has described at the somewhat door to door effort among First Responders . Weve been listening to sirens and seeing Emergency Vehicles. And seeing video of First Responders looking at homes, looking at the roads. Are you witnessing anything like that . No, i mean, you may have heard background Emergency Vehicle just went screaming by. Thats friday night in santa monica. Hard to know if thats related. I havent seen any of that. I frankly didnt know what to expect. We walked out of the theater due to the intensity shaking. I certainly was thinking we were going to witness some daniel outside. We saw none of that. I immediately came home and collected all our rooms and pictures and things that might have fallen off. Everything seemed in order. You know, i noted when we were talking about yesterdays quake that it seemed to go on for a very long time. This one also had the same rolling motion in which you kind of feel it and you think okay, were going to ride through this but it was that second jolt that you starred thinking okay, i dont know how much this thing is going to intensify. So lets get out of here. I dont frankly know if that was the right thing to do if we were in danger being in the theater but somehow, i think our natural instinct is you want to get out. I dont blame you. It seems like the news is officially following you at this point. Im. So much for days off. No kidding. People are describing, ive only felt an earthquake once in my life. Ironically it was in New York City a few years ago. You probably remember that. I remember things shaking and a couple of things falling off the shelves. Being a native new yorker, i didnt even know what was going on. It certainly seems like people in that area are taking it with a Grain Of Salt and smiling about it. Hopefully theyre not going to go home to find damage and hopefully no injuries. What theyre all describing is this feeling of vertigo or like a seasickness. Is that what it really feels like. Yes, i grew up on the west coast mostly in california but spent four years in alaska and
my father was in the military and we had earthquakes there. And here. I can tell you that i didnt necessarily feel it this time but often they start off so slightly that you almost feel like youre trembling like its you. Like youre suddenly feeling faint or something. Then as it begins to crank up, you realize its an earthquake. I know that feeling that vertigo feeling. I have been in quakes not only along the west coast but i covered the horrible disaster in haiti i think it was 2010 in which there was a huge loss of life. Some of the aftershocks from there biggest i can remember was about 6. 5. There were some very large ones. I also covered the earthquake and Nuclear Disaster in japan. I believe that was 2011. I think that was 2011, and again, we had some very, very big aftershocks there. But most of the ones ive been in tend to be a sharp jolt and short in duration. Both of these felt very long. I havent heard what the official duration was but they seemed to go on for a very long time. Was we got to our feet to exit the theater its hard to know at what point it stopped. Were making our way downstairs again, as orderly as possible. And there was no direction from the theater staff. I dont blame them. They wouldnt have had time to react that quickly. As i said, it felt like the right thing to do. Lester holt, thank you so very much. Sorry for ot interruption in your vacation time. Thank you. You can blame mother nature. Exactly. Thank you. Lets go to nbc news molly hunter who is in ridge crest, the actual epicenter where this latest official earthquake happened followed by an aftershock. Molly, what did you feel where you are . Melissa, hey, it was incredibly strong. So we were actually in the hotel. I was actually already asleep
ahead of today show live shot. We were in bed lights off. It was really, really strong. All of a sudden. Kind of started quite gradually and got really violent. It was so much stronger than anything i felt the 5. 4 this morning. Quite forcefully. But this was extraordinarily scary and very strong. Everything in the hotel started shaking, the room absolutely kind of there were a Couple Archways started creaking but of course, when youre sound asleep and kind of wake up, youre not exactly sure Whats Going On. Quickly grabbed our stuff. The alarms in the hotel started going off loudly, kind of Curtains Cape down in the hotel. A u few things on the deck went off. And just grabbed our stuff, ran out of the hotel as the alarm was going off. As soon as we got out of the hotel, everyone else in the hotel was running out, lots of families, kids without shoes and
looked over and saw huge plumes of black smoke, got in the car, drove a few blocks. It was a big house on fire. Firefighters were already on the scene but huge thick plumes of black smoke. And i know you guys dont have the video yet. We shot krid video on the scene and spoke with the family that was inside that house at the time. Were feeling another aftershock right now. Really strong. Sorry its still going. All right. Molly. Really strong. Youre describing certainly much more violent than whatever else weve been hearing. I need to interrupt for a moment. There is a Press Conference going on with the usgs. Up north its just slightly to the northwest of the main shock our Early Warning system is saying 5. 7 with 26 seconds till it gets here. The one that was a 5, 4. 9, we felt, so this assuming that the
magnitude isnt really estimated my guess is well feel this as it comes through. In about ten seconds. Can we expect this magnitude of aftershocks throughout the rest of the evening. Yeah, the largest is likely to be a six. Here we go. Feeling it now. There it is. There it is. There it is. Feel it . Yeah. That was the phone ringing. That was less than i felt from the one that was labeled as 4. 9. Yeah. All right. So clearly were a long ways away from the erg quake. Remember that the people in ridge crest are going through a lot worse than this. We already had damaged houses and Structure Fires out of the first earthquake. This is going to have been more intense shaking. Okay. This came through just as a 3. 5. Lucy, all on the same fault line as the 6. 4. The same fault system. It appears to have multiple strands to it. Weve already seen the two perpendicular ones. I think they got the magnitude wrong because yeah. Unless it hasnt come through yet. Boom. Can you explain the shake alert again . Because some people just got the initial report that it, quote unquote, wasnt working. Okay. Can you explain again that lets let the usgs handle that one. So yeah, so the system worked. That was a 5. 1. Yeah. So the system, the Shake Alert System worked both on usgs side and on the shake alert l. A. Side. The reason why alerts or notifications didnt go out to l. A. County is that the threshold for shaking was set
above what the stipulated shaking revealed. So it was just the way that the system was designed. In fact, the same thing happened again tonight. My understanding the alerts did not go out on shake alert la. The magnitude that was estimated with an Early Warning system was 6. 2. So the initial magnitude estimate was too low. Consequently, the intensities were below thatthreshold. The system is not perfect. What was experienced in the pasadena, l. A. Area were not damaging ground motions. Whats going on in up in ridge crest, those are damaging ground motions. These folks are really feeling it. What is the chance of another large quake like this or even larger tonight . Well, as dr. Jones had said, theres a 5 chance that in could be followed by an even
larger quake. Well. The number of 5 is usually for a few days. The most likely time is within a day which is why we just saw 30 hours or so, 36 hours. You said earlier you dont recall any size earthquakes sequence where a 7. 1 was followed by a greater earthquake. Flow, be no, in california i dont remember one thats had that series. There are places elsewhere in the world. There was a 8. 5 that was a foreshock to a 9. 5 in chili. In california in the size missity of the state youve never seen anything follow a 7. 1 . Boy, yeah, but that doesnt mean. No, we have in nevada. We have in nevada, the fairfield earthquakes. The take away here though is that we have just seen between yesterday and today, quakes that
we say are main shocks can actually be foreshocks to larger quakes. We wont know till it does or doesnt happen. 7. 1 the same depth for the most part as a 6. 4. Well, its 17 kilometers. Yeah, the epicenter is a little bit deep he ever. We do have geologists out in the field. We havent gotten reports back. Theyll be able to go out. Five, ten miles. Thats the ten miles down whereas the one yesterday was more like six or seven miles down. However, a bigger earthquake also involves a larger fault. It still may very well, probably this is coming to the surface. And you know. Is there. What youre really worried about is are we going to trigger something outside of this region. Probably not. Why. Because were too far away. The ability to trigger another earthquake is very spatially
defined. The most likely to trigger it is at the same fault. As you go away with distance, it becomes much less likely. How far is that from The San Andreas. Quite a ways. Its not even on that figure. Its over 100 miles to The San Andreas from this location. The gar lock fault is another long fault closer. If we were going to be triggering something really big, it might be a source for that. When landers happened near The San Andreas, it didnt happen. But it was a possibility. A low probability possibility. The guar lock luckily runs through some of the most isolated parts of california. You said yesterday there were two faults making this l pattern so there was the other leg. The top part. Just listening to dr. Lucy jones in in california telling us what i thought was pretty interesting things saying number
one, the fought line is getting bigger, theres more issues with that. Also saying that every earthquake makes it possible that another one is on the way. And, of course, as they were talking theyre live during the news conference, they actuality felt one and people in the newsroom said things were shaking in newsroom. Thats the second one today being felt in las vegas. I believe she on live television. Our affiliate in los angeles knbc as theyre covering this very Interesting Press conference with the usgs. The woman in the middle youre looking at is dr. Lucy jones, a seismologist. And theyre sort of taking us through the possibilities of what could happen next. Lets just catch you up on what has happened. Yesterday, there was a 6. 4 magnitude what is called foreshock. Followed by a 5. 0 and then tonights 7. 1 magnitude earthquake in the area called ridge crest. There has been a 5. 5 aftershock
and just during that Press Conference, there have been further aftershocks. Dr. Jones is saying that there is probably about a 5 chance that this fault line could lead to another actual earthquake. But it seems to be more likely that there will be more aftershocks instead. This is about 100 miles away from The San Andrea fault. They were describing a different fault in that area that are apparently the fault line is getting bigger. Were still trying to figure out what that means. Lets go back to molly hunter who is in ridge crest which is the epicenter of this entire event. And in the areas that are further away like los angeles and las vegas, people are describing sort of this swaying feeling. You can see the chandeliers swaying back and forth. But in ridge crest where molly is, it is a different story. It is much more violent. Molly, please take us through again what you experienced. Melissa, while we were just listening to the Press Conference account aftershock they felt at that Press Conference we felt here close to the epicenter. Its just an incredibly constant Violent Shaking of the ground. Whether youre in the car or Standing Outside, i was Standing Outside for one of them. In the car for the other. Its just incredibly violent. The thing though even though they said there were a couple of strong ones were looking at the usgs site right now. Were getting small aftershocks every couple minutes. While they wont be felt in l. A. , here we can feel much smaller aftershocks. Ill take you back about an hour, the 7. 1. I was sound asleep in the hotel. Were Standing Outside of the hospital. Of course, when youre woken up from a deep slumber, i had no idea what was going on. It was really strong shaking and you come to and i realized exactly what was happening. It kept going what felt like
forever. Just a few seconds im sure well have to look at the usgs updated but Violent Shaking. There was no kind i have gentle rolling which is what i felt in l. A. On friday. This was a serious shaking, the whole room felt like it was going back and forth. The curtains came off. Everything started off falling off the dechk and got up, put on shoes, grabbed stuff, ran outside. Everyone was running outside the hotel at that point. Families, of course, lots of kids outside. The alarms were sounding. All the power was out. Almost immediately. And the whole hotel you know, i cant speak to its foundation. I have no idea how its built. There are columns outside and theres kind of an overhang over the driveway. And it was just going back and forth. It looked like it was on kind you have hinges, melissa. Is there anybody out there helping take you through this especially considering that you are at a hotel, considering that people are probably not from that area . Did they guide to you stairs . Did you take an elevator . Are they keeping you updated . So we were on the first floor on purpose. We obviously came up here to cover an earthquake. We had rooms on the first floor for safety reasons. I saw absolutely no one on my way out. Alarms did sound. Several seconds into the quake. And as soon as i realized kind of looking up at the various Flimsy Doorways in my room as it went back and forth, we ran straight out. It was a very short and very fast run straight out into the front of the hotel. We got in the car immediately because we saw black smoke a few blocks away. And there was already a house on fire. We arrived firefighters were already on the scene. Hoses going strong and we spoke with the young family or young woman who had been right next to the house. Her sister was inside the house we spoke with. The sister of the woman and the niece of the woman they were just kind of distraught absolutely in tears. Really upset. They said their sister and aunt did get out okay. All of their stuff was destroyed. Were really shaken up here. Its incredibly violent. All of these aftershocks keep coming. Theres no one necessarily directing traffic or helping figure out where we should be going. Were Standing Outside the hospital with other media and ambulances keep going in and out. There is a Command Center set up at city hall which well check out shortly, as well. We have definitely seen video of powerful looking fires and lots of Emergency Vehicles and i understand that Emergency Crews First Responders are going door to door. The mayor there in Los Angeles Mayor gil garcetti is saying theyre making sure that the structures are safe. Theyre checking out roads and bridges. I understand that lax is inspecting all of their runways thoroughly to see if planes can
take off and land. Were seeing pictures of people, not right now. Were looking at a very powerful fire. I dont know what that is. I cant see the video. Does it look like a house and kind of thick black smoke. Yes, it looks like very thick black smoke and a fireball. We cant tell whether or not a its a house its a structure. At least the structure we showed up it was one of the only things on fire in the small vicinity of ridge crest. It was a house what we saw at least kind of media and immediately arrived. Fire trucks were on scene Holding People back. But we did speak with the sister of the woman i said as you house it was. She said everything was destroyed. Within minutes, we arrived when there were still bright orange flames, thick black smoke and within minutes the firefighters had put it out and there was nothing there. Describe what the aftershocks
feel like compared to the earlier earthquake, please. I was in los angeles when that 6. 4 hit on friday. And it was similar to what we heard lester describing before. He was obviously in l. A. , as well. It was a rolling feeling almost. And it lasted for a few seconds. A few seconds longer in l. A. Because the energy weve heard from the U Subpoena Gs was moving around kind of a elongating that actual sensation in los angeles. I felt the 5. 4 really strongly this morning. I was sitting down and that was the strongest thing id felt since we had been up here. Pretty much all day feeling 3. 2s, 3. 4s, there was a 4. 1 pretty strongly but nothing, i cant overstate how stronging that 7. 1 just felt and how different it felt. Ive never felt an earthquake that strong. I grew up in california. Dont remember much about the 89, but this was a Violent Shaking. Im trying to describe my entire room was if it was going back and forth on hinges. Were just getting in front of the camera for you right now. Great, thank you. I can speak with you. In two seconds. Terrific. While youre getting in front of the camera, and thank you, molly, how long would you describe that these episodes lasted. Sorry, say it one more time. Do you have any sense even though that it was panic, do you have any sense of how long each Episode Lasteded . That 7. 1 how long we think that lasted. Its so hard to tell because we were all asleep ahead of our today show live shot. 30 seconds do you think . It felt like five minutes but it certainly wasnt. So melissa, just so you know, i said i was on the first floor. That was our camera man who said he was on the third floor. And moving back and forth for about a minute. It was a much different sensation, of course, when are you up above and what floor were you on angie . Lights felt down. Everything on my deck fell down. Everything fell. And then im looking at our photographer. Sorry, were all just standing here and had slightly different experiences and gathering. It knocked you out of bed. It looks like of all the rooms, i was not knocked out of bed. I kind of panicked and got up out of bed as soon as i saw the windows kind you have going back and forth. Being a couple floors up, clearly was a much different experience. At least look at least 30 seconds up to a minute if you were on a higher floor. It was really, really scary. Somebody was knocked out of bed . Thats so. Third floor. And literally knocked out of
bed. Melissa, were getting our ducks in a row. Were going to let you set up because obviously, were distracting you from what you need to do right now. Well check back with you and your crew in a few moments. We want to go back to the usgs Press Conference. 7. 1. The region has to sustain a 7. 1 150 miles away. Absolutely. Probably somewhat isolated. I would be very surprised if there was much widespread impact in the los angeles area. But clearly up near the epicenter region, the ridge crest area, those folks are having to deal with a lot right now. We havent gotten any direct reports here, but im sure theres lots of damage and they are probably dealing with aftershocks, as well. Waiting to hear from your gee
ols, what information will they provide . Theyre going to be out in the field as soon as they can and as best they can. Obviously its nighttime right now. They may be limited. This is the naval Arizona Weapo air station. They may not be able to get out there at night. When they get out, theyll have to be escorted. All those logistics are something theyre going to determine. What theyre looking for is finding a fault where we find that motion thats happened because we are seeing with our size mom teres we see these waves coming off of here and calculate back. Theyre probably coming off of the surface. When we get those Field Geology its like this fault has moved. And so its to its ground. The navy is testing munitions out there. No. Is there any chance anything
underground from the navy may have triggered it. Weve set off pretty Large Nuclear blasts without setting off a earthquake. The largest is a magnitude 2. The epicenter for this one is ten miles beneath the surface. Is there anything about this earthquake thats surprising at all to you . The size. No, in a way, as dr. Jones was explaining after the 6. 4, there was a possibility of having a larger event. And sure enough, we did. And you know, the mechanics of these two faults, the Conjugate Faulting makes a lot of sense. From a scientific or gee logic perspective. I would say no, theres not really any surprises weve seen so far. What can be you learn from it. Hopefully number one, learn more about how earthquakes work. Number two, i think theres teams out there looking at damage, how buildings responded. Every earthquake is a chance to learn what will worked, what
didnt work and make improvements. Obviously a better understanding of earthquake triggering. Hopefully well be able within this i can go and rattle off all these previous earthquakes where weve seen one trigger the other. The recordings we have of those earthquakes are primitive compared to what we have now and we dont really know all of what the mechanisms were on this erg quake. With the system we put in place to do Early Warning, we now have hundreds and hundreds of stations that are out there giving us much clearer pictures of Whats Going On on the fault. So now were going to be able to see with much greater resolution than in the past what the part of which fault moved and how did the pattern progress and start and, of course, theres always the hope well find something thats different about the foreshocks. Let me just let me just add in terms of learning the Shake Alert System which has been put in place in the last few years and is constantly being tested. This is an excellent test case for that system. Well be able in the coming days be able to analyze how the system performed, are improvements required. I suspect yes, maybe in terms of estimating the magnitude. Theres another point where well be able to build on this event and make some progress. Im seeing a report from usgs that this fault is so shallow, it was technically bob ground. Listed as a like a line on a violent intensity scale. What is that. Not something coming from a scientist. I doubt thats coming from the usgs. Earthquakes cannot occur bob ground. Yeah. There are some times where our location might show up as being a negative depth. That means something went wrong in how we located it. The depth is much harder to constrain. All our stations are at the surface. Basically triangulation its easier to see where they are not
horizontal direction than going down. The depth of this is similar to what youve seen before historically in this region. Yes, in this region, weve had somewhat deeper faults. The area is that idea of redirecting The San Andreas, we are seeing this area opening up. It is what the geologists call the Basin And Range system. You have the big fault thats on the side of the Sierra Nevada and then we have the faults forming all of the different ranges that go out through nevada all the way out to the wasatch in utah. Everything between the wasatch and here is called the Basin And Range. So its an area with lots of faults thats spreading out and some of them happened by faults that move up and down and some of them happen by these horizontal ones squeeding out along the way. And the rate at which they happen summed up is about 10 to 20 the rate of what we see on
The San Andreas. And the sort of geological discussion is that because its going to eventually take over from The San Andreas or is that some other sort of millions of years, not on our time scale. But still, we sometimes call this a complex plate boundary. Twothirds of the motion happens on The San Andrea. The rest gets smeared out through other faults. This is the 10 to 20 smeared out to the east. You said the wasatch. Do we see these kind of events in utah. Yeah. The farther east you go, the let frequent they are. But were pretty sure there are magnitude 7s under Salt Lake City about once every 1,000 years. Here along through this region, its as i said, i think 1915 and 154 and 1872 were all close to magnitude 67 coming up somewhere between here and up to reno. About five more questions. Can you talk a little bit. A question about the conjugate system. The fact these two are conjoined, does that add any energy to its just happenstance. As far as we can tell, the better picture we get of the earthquakes is we put in more instruments the more often we see municipal fault in the events. We think they probably most of them are like this. Were finally being able to resolve it. Yeah, the way we describe is it is earthquakes were six plir when we had less data. Were following Breaking News out of los angeles and as far away as las vegas where a series of what are called foreshocks, an earthquake and aftershocks are occurring. The scientists are basically taking us through what is going on. Its about 100 miles away from the San Andreas Fault. It happened in an area the epicenter in a place called ridgecrest, described as extremely Violent Shaking. This is from ridgecrest, thats a house on fire that nbcs molly hunter told us that mpb got out safely. What we just learned from that mpbs conference is every earthquaking is an opportunity to learn what works, what doesnt as far as building structures, the warning systems, the cause of the quakes themselves, the fault lines and all of that. Basically what theyre saying is theres a converging of different faults that are now spreading. And we reto expect about 5 chance of another actual earthquake but most likely after shocks that they are experiencing right now. Joining me now by phone is nbc news 20 20 ben pu in las vegas, nevada where he felt the earthquake. There was as actual nba game going on that i believe had to be stopped because of it. Ben, take us through what you experienced please. Im right here on the las vegas strip. I felt about approximately 30
seconds of relatively violent side to side shaking. I was indoors. Relatively violent but i think as far as most people were concerned around here, not something to be particularly afraid about. A lot of people have the ridgecrest earthquake on their minds. However, it still was very violent and was very, very surprising to all of us but it was it went relatively quickly and at some point, we all kind of looked at each other inside the restaurant and said should we go under the tables. By that time it abated. I stepped outside and decided to look around the strip. Mccarron as far as i know is still continuing flights as normal. I see planes going above the right rail system that is the people mover on the strip is still operating perfectly normal. On the casino floors, in the lux yore, people are playing their games as usual. Pretty much almost no
recognition of what just transpired here. It seems like most people are relatively unconcerned. I myself born and raise the in south california, i have weathered several erg quakes before. One was pretty big from what i can remember in my youth. When you live out west, this is something you deal with every now and then. Most people ride it out and well see what happens. So people are going about their business. Yeah. People you go out i just went through the casino floor in the lux yore, no response people are playing games and ordering drinks. Have i not seen any damage physical or emotional whatsoever truth be told. I think that there is something to be said about the way that the hotels and buildings out west are built by very strict
codes. A lot of people here have this accepts of safety and theyre not particularly concerned when an earthquake does strike. Obviously we want to encourage people to bring safety bags, Earthquake Bags and be ready to evacuate at a moments notice should the big Earthquake Hit at any time. People are going about their business. Its only like 9 00 out here on the west. People arent concerned. Theyre still playing games and getting drinks. Same old same old. I think i would be hiding under the table with my cocktail if i was there. I would be terrified. I wasnt raised in california the way you were. Ben, well come back to you later. Lets go back to molly hunter who is at the epicenter of all there ridgecrest, california. I believe we had her on the phone earlier. I believe we have her on camera now. Molly, hello. There you are. Bring us up to date Whats Going On since we last talked. Right. So just listening to the experience in las vegas, it could not be more different here. I was raised in california. Ive never felt anything like that. I was trying to explain earlier kind of overestimate how scary it was. And to be in a closed space, to see your room kind of literally on hinges going back and forth. There wasnt a good way to move to stay safe. I kind of froze in my bed. I was sound asleep and weaken by this Violent Shaking. We heard in that Press Conference there was a smaller shake right before. I did not feel that. I clearly slept through that. This 7. 1 was truly scary. Got out of bed. The alarms started going on almost immediately. Can you show our hotel is right over there. Everything is dark. Everything is out of power. You cant you see a sea of darkness. There are a lot of buildings usually lit up. Where we are were in front of the ridgecrest regional
hospital. There are generators. It is running on emergency power. Weve been seeing ambulances coming in and out. There are helicopters overhead. Sirens, police, Emergency Services out on the street. That fire you mentioned earlier immediately when we got out of the hotel, we got into the car, angie and i drove a few blocks. There was one single house just spewing flames, huge black plumes of smoke and we did shoot video making its way to you. We spoke with the people who knew the woman inside. We spoke with mer niece and sister. She got out safely. Everyone any that house got out safely but all of her possessions everything was destroyed we saw the Fire Department on scene right there. At least three or four hoses by the time. Were looking at that right now. It is a fireball. Within five minutes, though, they had shut it down. It was just kind of an absolute ruin. It was a pretty big structure. I didnt see it at the beginning
and couldnt tell how big a house it was. Just the most powerful kind of flames into the sky. You can imagine as i just showed you, its completely dark here. It was really obvious and easy to find in the skyline here. Do you have any information whatsoever about how far away the Power Outage Spreads . We dont. Were definitely making calls right now to figure out but actually after that 6. 4 quake on friday, pg e got people back and got customers back power quickly. By the time saturday rolled around, just a few hundred customers were still out of power. I hear a helicopter right overhead somewhere. Its right over there. Everywhere i can see, right now, we drove a few miles that way. Everything is in darkness. The hotel its a marriott. The alarm system was clearly working. Absolutely no power, no generator kicked in, no lights. Nothing. Lots of families sitting outside the Hotel Parking lot and
driving through that residential area where that house fire was lots of families sitting outside on their curbs having no idea whether to go back inside, keep their kids outside. Its hard to explain how scary it was. I know we live in california and a lot of people are used to shaking. That 6. 4 on friday when we talked to people here in ridgecrest, people who lived here for generations said that was the most violent thing they ever felt. This was so much stronger. That says a lot. I have to say molly, im a little bit surprised considering everything weve heard about what First Responders and pg e crews are having to do now as far as checking out the roads, but the bridges, l. A. X. Checking out run waze doing this all in the dark. Im a little bit surprised to see so many people driving around. Yeah, look, a lot there are a lot of civilian cars out there, a lot are Emergency Vehicles. All the cars we see all civilian
cars. Look, theres no actual damage on the roads an that we can see. Were not seeing massive structural damage in front of us. I heard that hotel creaking. I would be really surprised if theres not some serious damage. Im not going backing into that hotel anytime soon. Lets see. You see. Who is that directing things behind you . Theres a man behind you. Yeah. Do you work for hospital. No, im volunteering. You just came out to volunteer. Yeah. I checked on my house and my shop. Do you mind coming over . Were live with nbc right now. So i basically. Come right over here. Whats your name. Warren cooper, own a Handyman Business here. I collected on my shop when the erg quake happened. I collected on my shop. Ton of stuff was destroyed. I ran out. What kind of shop. I do brought iron gates and
welding, fabrication. I ran to my house. Its completely leveled. Destroyed. Shut the water main off. A gas main off. It was just a mess. Made sure everything was okay. Locked my dog up. Is your dog okay. Hes fine locked in my vehicle. Went to my apartment. I take care of about 14 units. I did welfare collection on every one of them. Knocked on every door. Beat on every door. Did people answer. Absolutely. I got i made sure everybody was okay. I got their dogs out in the crates in the vehicles. Kids loaded up. Shut off the gas. How far away just to try to understand how far away is that from where we are right now. Towns only about seven miles across. Im on the very corner. I collected all my tenants got all their dogs to safety. Shut off the water main, it was flooded there. Place is trashed. All righty. Second two stories. It was already second was all broken. I came down here. My sister is a nurse here. I knew i could be of good use
here and im loud and obnoxious. Thats why theyve got me here. Helping direct traffic. Talk to me how this felt different than the 6. 4 on friday. Different was i watched the Cell Phone Tower almost come down on me which is crazy. Those things wiggle a lot. The first one i was at my apartments happening and the screams were crazy. Describe to me. Just kid screaming just coming out crying and old ladies having looks like Heart Attacks in the doorways. I was just thankful i was there. Im just the super. I take care of the property and i cant believe i was there and i took care of those people and i felt better about it. And yesterday, i we bound together. My whole family and cleaned out a Convenience Store for a local shop. Did you feel the 5. 4 this morning around 4 00 a. M. I was passed out i was
cleaning the Convenience Store till about 2 30 this morning. Went home and slept and woke up and you know. I just described what it was like waking up to a 7. 1 quake. What was yours experience waking up with the Violent Shaking. I didnt wake up. You slept through that 5. 4 this morning. I was tired. You were tired. I would not have slept through that you 5. 4 this morning. That are a scary quake. We felt aftershocks all today. The 7. 1. Talk to me about your experience as soon as it starred shaking. First thing i was with a group of friends. I had four people around me freaking out. I said stop. Stop, dont move. Keep your eyes open. Worst thing is run to a building, run around. Just stop. We were outside. We were fine. And then thats when we said lets go. We knew what to do. Make sure your neighbors are okay, your house is okay. Yeah, i checked on my house and it was gone. So i lost my house today. I dont know if i can even save it. So it sucks. I just paid it off. So. How long have you lived there. Five years. I paid pretty good on it because i wanted to get it over with. So its on the ground. Explain to me what that looks like. Its a mobile home. I bought a mobile home. I basically bought it for the property. Its on just describe for the viewers. Basically triangles with screws on them. It separated and the whole side of it is on the ground. Theres a fourfoot drop. Not tilted, its off. Theres a fourfoot gap between one side of the floor and the other side. Its done. Im so sorry about that. Its okay. I was needed out here. Thats when i jumped in the trucks and we went here. Now youre making sure that the hospital has the support they need. Im out here. My best friend and Business Partner brandon is helping move equipment. Setting up tables and chairs. We knew this was the place to go. I appreciate your time. Thank you guys. Im really sorry about your
house. No worries. Its life. It goes on, right. Good attitude. Thats a really good attitude. Sounds like hes taking that in stride. Thats a lot to handle. Way more in stride than i would. And hes out there volunteering. Thats absolutely incredible. Are there a lot of other people Walking Around . Where you are . You know what honestly, its so hard to tell because its so dark. There were a lot of people so as i had court show over there the hotels were over there. There were a lot of pedestrian over there. This is the hospital parking lot. So people have been walking in and walking out. I you cant drive in here. He was turning people around in here. Its hard to tell. Im surprised as were standing out here just how many cars are out here. You got to hope that actually you know, its just people going to check on their families and houses and getting somewhere
safe. Molly hunter, stay safe. Knbc, listen to what theyre telling us right now. She like many of our reporters were fanned out across the area. Tonight covering other stories and she was in the san marino area and beverly, you felt it and you have also been talking to people who felt it there. What have you learned . Well, we are in east pasadena. I got clarification a moment ago. Conan is here with a scientist. Im here with the citizens. Listen to what they had to say as we were all inside the Staple Restaurant trying to enjoy some dinner. I thought i was getting dizzy because i just it started off slowly and then it went faster and faster. I saw the stop sign and it was moving. So and then i saw the tvs and they were also moving. Thats when i got behind the door. It was the kind that its just sort of undulates. Its not jerky, but kind of like a sin wave. We were here yesterday. Its something that comes with where you live. At first we were like is that an earthquake. And then we noticed the sign was shaking. It felt like yeah, like a rolling almost like youre on a cruise ship. Just the rolling i dont know, took quite a long while for it to stop which is really strange for not being a Violent Shaking. Ive been through the ones that were pretty violent. So maybe no Property Damage in these environs but certainly a lot of rattled nerves. Back to you in the studio. We just talked about how that orange countys sending their team. We are watching our affiliate in los angeles, knbc, doing their local coverage of this series of what is described as a
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