Dr. Lucy Jones on So Cal's Largest Quake in 3 Years: Damage, Alerts, and Preparation

Largest Earthquake Hits Southern California In Three YearsPhoto byShefali LincolnonUnsplash

A 5.2 earthquake rattled Kern County just after 9 p.m. Tuesday, August 6, 2024, causing rattled nerves, damage, and even shutting down Interstate 5.

Shaking homes and breaking windows, strong enough to wake people from sleep, the quake was also powerful enough to warn people hours away through the “MyShake” app. “MyShake is recommended to residents of California, endorsed by Dr. Lucy Jones, as the state is known for earthquakes. Easily downloaded from your app store, the alert app is free and can save lives and property before the shaking hits your community.

Inside a market about 10 miles from the quake's epicenter, surveillance video captured several glass bottles and merchandise falling off shelves as employees bolted out of the store. The market was only within miles of the epicenter in Bakersfield, CA, which also caused major headaches for drivers on Interstate 5 when a huge boulder, the size of an SUV, fell onto the southbound lanes. The California Highway Patrol reported that the gigantic rock blocked both sides of the interstate.

An aerospace specialist at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles captured the quake in real-time. Seismographs are highly technological devices installed in the ground worldwide to capture ground motion. As soon as the earthquake was captured, a warning went out to every person who had the MyShake app.

As of today, there have been well over 400 aftershocks.

World-renowned seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones said, “The quake is very close to where Kern had a magnitude of 7.5 in 1952.” She added that Tuesday’s earthquake was not on the same fault as the 1952 Kern quake.

According to KGET local news at https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/5-2-mettler-earthquake-rattles-kern-county/from the shaker. As Dr. Lucy Jones continued about the fault, the earthquake expert we have all grown to trust also stated, “The large magnitude quake in 1952, called the White Wolf fault, dips in a different direction, and it doesn’t look like this earthquake was associated with any known fault. We’ve already had at least two above-magnitude four aftershocks. So that’s pretty active for this very short time since the event.”

One 4.5 quake occurred less than one minute after the initial earthquake occurred.

Many Southern California residents described receiving the alerts from the MyShake app as “alarming but helpful” as an early warning to prepare.

Jones said the duration of shaking can vary so much in the L.A. area because the length of time the earth moves at any given spot can depend on the soil and rocks beneath the location, whether a person is sitting still or moving around, and even whether an individual is on the ground floor or on top of a skyscraper — those on higher floors feel the shaking more strongly. Some people may have felt more than one wave of shaking because the first aftershock occurred so soon — less than a minute — after the main shock.”

"The basin effect ... increases the shaking you would otherwise normally have," Husker said.

The effect happens when waves from the shaking arrive and hit the walls of the Los Angeles basin, then bounce back at the walls of the basin, Jones said, resulting in an "extended duration." “A major earthquake on the San Andreas fault would result in a much longer period of shaking. However, this latest quake was strong enough to set up some of these basin effects and get things bouncing around.”

It has been several years since a magnitude 5.2 or more tremendous earthquake hit Southern California, and Tuesday's quake was the strongest to strike the region in three years. A magnitude 5.3 occurred in June 2021, just southeast of the Salton Sea in Imperial County, about 160 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles. In June 2020, a magnitude 5.5 quake struck the Mojave Desert in the northwestern corner of San Bernardino County, about 120 miles northeast of downtown L.A. and about 14 miles east of Ridgecrest in Kern County.

If you are a resident of California, you are already educated on the importance of “Earthquake Preparedness.” However, if you need a refresher, you can visit Cal OES https://www.caloes.ca.gov/office-of-the-director/operations/planning-preparedness-prevention/seismic-hazards/earthquake-preparedness/

Given that this was the largest earthquake California has experienced in three years, it is essential to share this article with your community, listen to Dr. Lucy Jones, and be quake-prepared. Please follow me on NewsBreak and make the most of your beautiful day.