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A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 9 July 2019

Quakes alert Californians to be ready for dreaded ‘Big One’

By JOHN ROGERS, ROBERT estimated the damage
JABLON and MARCIO JOSE at more than $100 million
SANCHEZ and said President Donald
Associated Press Trump called him to offer
RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) federal support.
— Shaken residents are All roads serving Ridgecrest,
cleaning up from two of a town of 28,000, were safe
the biggest earthquakes to to drive again, water and
rattle California in decades power had been restored,
as scientists warn that both Police Chief Jed McLaugh-
should serve as a wake-up lin said. He said homes
call to be ready when the were being inspected for
long-dreaded “Big One” damage and all govern-
strikes. ment buildings were de-
California is spending more clared safe.
than $16 million to install Officials told several hun-
thousands of quake-de- dred people at a commu-
tecting sensors statewide nity meeting Sunday to boil
that officials say will give their tap water for at least
utilities and trains precious several days once it returns.
seconds to shut down be- Mayor Peggy Breeden said
fore the shaking starts. two trucks with water were
Gov. Gavin Newsom said A visitor takes a photo of a crack on the ground following recent earthquakes Sunday, July 7, coming to Ridgecrest and
it’s time residents did their 2019, outside of Ridgecrest, Calif. nearby Trona.
part by mapping out emer- Associated Press Several people said they
gency escape routes and report a fatality, a major people, it is going to be a the garage and another in will need counseling after
preparing earthquake kits injury, do not suffer struc- lot worse.” the driveway — in case the dealing with the disrup-
with food, water, lights and ture damage that was sig- Thus the need for prepara- garage falls down on the tions caused by the earth-
other necessities. nificant, I want to say that tion, Newsom and others car. quakes, including sleeping
“It is a wake-up call for the that was a blessing and a say. The 1994 quake was not outside their homes.
rest of the state and other miracle,” Kern County Fire Some Californians, like the state’s most devas- Breeden said residents
parts of the nation, frankly,” Department spokesman Greg Messigian of Los An- tating. The famous 1906 had proved their tough-
Newsom said at a week- Andrew Freeborn said Sun- geles, say they’re already San Francisco earthquake ness. “Let’s hear it for
end news conference on day. taking precautions. His killed 3,000 people. A 1971 Ridgecrest!” she said to a
efforts to help a desert Seismologists said a similar- wake-up call came with San Fernando quake, standing ovation.
region jolted by back-to- sized quake in a major city the 1994 Northridge earth- centered not far from the Residents of Trona, south-
back quakes. like San Francisco, Los An- quake that killed 61 people Northridge quake, killed west of Death Valley, re-
A magnitude 6.4 earth- geles or San Diego could and caused $15 billion in 65. The 1989 Loma Prieta ported electricity had been
quake Thursday and a collapse bridges, buildings damage. His San Fernando quake that struck the Bay restored but water and gas
magnitude 7.1 quake Fri- and freeways, as well as Valley home, located just Area as the San Francisco service was still out at many
day were centered 11 miles spark devastating fires fu- above the fault line, was all Giants played Game 3 of homes. People in the town
(18 kilometers) from the eled by ruptured gas lines. but destroyed. the World Series killed 63. of about 2,000 lined up for
small town of Ridgecrest, “We’re going to have a “We had brick walls around Kathy Mirescu of Los An- free water that California
about 150 miles (241 kilo- magnitude 6, on average, the perimeter that had geles said she had been National Guard soldiers
meters) from Los Angeles. somewhere in Southern all fallen down. We had meaning to restock her handed out at Trona High
The quakes buckled high- California every few years. cracks in the pool. Inside earthquake safety kit and School.
ways and ruptured gas We’ve actually gone 20 the house everything that got a push following the “I just picked up a couple
lines that sparked several years without one, so we we ever had on a shelf was quakes she called the stron- cases for me and my dog,”
house fires, and officials have had the quietest 20 broken. Television sets fell gest she’s felt since moving said Jeb Haleman, adding
said about 50 homes in years in the history of South- off the places where they to California in 2000. that his home of 40 years
the nearby small town of ern California,” said seis- were and cracked. Our “The size of those quakes otherwise escaped un-
Trona were damaged. No mologist Lucy Jones of the chimney was broken. There drove home the urgency scathed.
one was killed or seriously California Institute of Tech- were cracks in the walls.” of making sure we had ev- With temperatures hover-
injured, which authorities nology. With the help of earth- erything we needed,” she ing around the 100-degree
attributed to the remote “That’s unlikely to continue quake insurance, Messi- said. mark, Sgt. Robert Madrigal
location in the Mojave Des- in the long run,” she add- gian rebuilt. The Salesforce product said the National Guard
ert. ed. “Geology keeps on On Sunday, the retired designer spent $250 on ev- would provide water “just
“Any time that we can go moving ... and we should schoolteacher was going erything from camping lan- as long as they need us
through a 7-point earth- be expecting a higher rate. over his preparedness kit, terns, flares and waterproof here.”
quake and we do not And when it happens near making sure he had every- matches to nonperishable Officials were taking pre-
thing he would need for food, iodine tablets for pu- cautions because of the
the next quake. rifying water and freeze- heat and expectation of
Among the contents: dried food for her dog. thousands of smaller after-
Enough water to last a As people prepared, au- shocks over the next sev-
week, extra shoes and thorities repaired roads eral days.
clothes, blankets, flash- and utilities. The U.S. Geological Survey
lights, batteries, food, a The quakes sparked sev- said there was just a 1%
cellphone charger and eral house fires, shut off chance of another mag-
food for the family dog. power, snapped gas lines, nitude 7 or higher earth-
On top of that, he has an cracked buildings and quake in the next week,
escape route planned and flooded some homes when and a rising possibility of no
keeps one car parked in water lines broke. Newsom magnitude 6 quakes.q