California earthquake: Larger 7.1 magnitude quake hits

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake has rattled a desert area of Southern California, US meteorologists say, in the biggest tremor to strike in two decades.
It struck at the shallow depth of 0.9km (0.6 miles) and its epicentre was near the city of Ridgecrest, about 240km north-east of Los Angeles, said a BBC News report.
A 6.4 magnitude quake hit the same region on Thursday at a depth of nearly 11km.
Seismologist Dr Lucy Jones said the quakes could continue.
“This is an earthquake sequence,” she said at a press conference. “It will be ongoing.”
“Every earthquake makes another earthquake more likely,” she added.
As yet, there have been no reports of deaths or of major damage.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said nobody had been killed or injured. A statement after the latest quake said the authorities had seen “no major infrastructure damage” after a survey of the city.
There were however reports of local power outages and damage after the new quake. A spokeswoman for the Kern County Fire Department said there had received multiple reports of injuries and fires.
Officials said it was still unclear how much damage had been caused and how many people had been injured in the state.
(UNI)