Southern California rattled by 7.1-magnitude earthquake

San Diego: Just a day after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck Southern California, the western American state on Saturday witnessed one of the strongest earthquakes of last two decades that hit its southern region at 7.1 magnitude. According to reports, the tremor shook buildings and cut power supplies across various parts of Los Angeles, however, no casualties were reported from the affected parts.

Earlier on Friday night, Southern California’s Ridgecrest was rattled by an earthquake of magnitude 6.4. However, the Saturday’s tremors were over 11 times stronger in intensity than its immediate predecessor. The US seismologists are calling it an “earthquake sequence”.

Reports suggest that the intensity of today’s earthquake was such that it was felt more than 240 km away in Los Angeles, where the fire department deployed vehicles and helicopters to check on damage and residents in need of medical emergency.

Los Angeles Fire Department tweeted, “We have word of wires down… and *localized* power outages in several City of Los Angeles neighborhoods… besides a handful of apparently small issues, NO major damage to infrastructure has been identified.”