A 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit Searles Valley, California – the epicenter of Thursday’s powerful earthquake.
The tremble was reported on Friday at about 4.07am local time, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The first earthquake, a magnitude-6.4, occurred on the morning of Independence Day and was felt from Las Vegas to San Diego, reported NBC Los Angeles.
Several aftershocks – as many as 220 – followed within five hours of the original quake, but this is the strongest one yet.
Experts had predicted Thursday that the massive earthquake could lead to another, more powerful quake in the next week.
A 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit Southern California at 4.07am on Friday, just a day after the earthquake that shook the state. Pictured: The epicenter of the aftershock
Yesterday’s earthquake, a magnitude-6.4, was reportedly felt from Las Vegas to San Diego. Pictured: The epicenter of the earthquake
It was the strongest earthquake experienced by Southern California in 20 years
This house in Ridgecrest caught fire after the 6.4-magnitude earthquake in California
Bricks from a house’s chimney sit on the ground in the wake of the tremor in Ridgecrest
The aftershocks that were recorded measured between 2.8 and 4.7, according to the Southern California Seismic Network and USGS.
‘For a 6.5 quake you’d expect a lot of aftershocks,’ USGS expert Susan Hough told SFGate.
‘With any earthquake, there is a five percent chance something even bigger will happen within the next three days. If it did, it would be in the same remote area.’
Thursday’s earthquake struck in the morning, cracking roads, causing fires and downing power lines, although no serious injuries reported were reported.
San Bernardino County authorities said the quake caused water mains to break, cracked buildings and caused rock slides on roads.
In the small desert city of Ridgecrest, near the epicenter of the earthquake, grocery store aisles were littered with smashed bottles, jars and packages.
Video posted online of a liquor store in Ridgecrest showed the aisles filled with broken wine and liquor bottles, knocked down boxes and other groceries strewn on the floor. Flames were seen shooting out of one home in the community.
‘I mopped up over 20 gallons of wine that fell over in addition to the beer, soda and the cooler that fell over. We have several thousand dollars worth of damage,’ shopkeeper James Wilhorn told Reuters.
Thursday’s earthquake struck in the morning, cracking roads, causing fires and downing power lines, although no serious injuries reported were reported
In the small desert city of Ridgecrest, near the epicenter of the earthquake, grocery store aisles were littered with smashed bottles, jars and packages
Video posted online of a liquor store in Ridgecrest showed the aisles filled with broken wine and liquor bottles, knocked down boxes and other groceries strewn on the floor
The damage prompted Ridgecrest’s mayor and Governor Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency.
Water gushed up from zigzagged cracks in the pavement from busted water lines, while deep fissures snaked across the Mojave Desert.
People from Las Vegas to the Pacific Coast reported feeling a rolling motion that shook shower doors and made hanging dining room lights sway.
The Los Angeles Airport said that all of their ‘runways have been inspected with no reported damage to the airfield or the Sepulveda tunnel. Operations remain normal’.
Lucy Jones, a seismologist with the California Institute of Technology’s seismology lab, said the earthquake was the strongest since a 7.1 quake struck in the area on October 16, 1999.
Several California-based celebrities took to social media to report on the earthquake
‘This has been an extremely quiet abnormal time,’ Jones said. ‘This type of earthquake is much more normal … The long term average is probably once every five or 10 years somewhere in Southern California.’
Officials admitted later that a new earthquake warning app had not sent out a public alert, despite the most powerful Southern California quake since 1999.
The ShakeAlert system detected the quake but did not trigger a public warning because the magnitude was less than 5.0 in Los Angeles, according to city bosses.
City bosses have promised to revamp the ShakeAlert system, saying: ‘We hear you and will lower the alert threshold.’
The Los Angeles Times reported that, on average, five earthquakes of magnitudes between 5.0 and 6.0 occur every year in California and Nevada.