Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Earthquake Strikes East of Los Angeles

Aired July 29, 2008 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And real quick, before we get to our Chad Myers who is our weather expert here, we want to go back to Los Angeles and Disneyland where our Ed Lavandera was there with his family because we want to get reaction from folks who were on the ground.
So Ed, you're there with your family and then explain to our viewers exactly what happened.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We were just standing -- actually, my little boy was waiting in line. He was next to get on this little ride called the Astro Orbiter. And, as the ride before was wrapping up, or the ride was starting to come down, it's just a little rocketship that spins in a circle. And -- so we were coming down from the ride and I thought the ride was over. And all of a sudden you heard -- on the top of the ride you could hear portions of it kind of like metal clanging back and forth. I looked up and I thought it was just a part of the ride that maybe it was something that shook at end to kind of signal the ride was over, something a little fun for the kids or whatever.

And then I look around and I realize, the ride's over. Nothing's moving, but we're still kind of swaying back and forth. So, it was kind of a bizarre moment. The whole experience didn't last -- I would be shocked if it lasted more than five seconds. But it's funny how when this is actually happening to you, you kind of lose a little bit of a sense of time as to how long exactly this has lasted.

But I don't think it lasted any more than five seconds, Don. And, eventually, the park operators and the ride operators basically told everybody to get out of the line, to go kind of start walking around away from the ride. And they were starting to do all the inspections.

And shortly after that, we started seeing everybody kind of spill out of lines throughout the various portions of the park that we're at. And we're near the Fantasyland area next to the beautiful castle and everything here inside Disneyland.

LEMON: OK. CNN's Ed Lavandera just happened to be vacationing, our correspondent there joining us now from Los Angeles. Stand by, Ed.

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Ed, we want to speak with Marla Cone, who is with "The L.A. Times." She was in the bureau there, the office, when this occurred.

Marla, you on the phone?

MARLA CONE, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": Yes, I'm here.

NGUYEN: OK. So, what did you experience?

CONE: Well, we're in a very old building here, a 10-story building. The newsroom's on the third floor. And that's where I was within the various pods with other reporters.

And we felt an initial shake and we're all sort of used to this. I have lived here 25 years, so I have felt a number of earthquakes. And then the initial shake didn't feel so bad, but then it lasted longer than usual. This was probably the worst shaking that I have felt in probably about a dozen years.

NGUYEN: How long did it last?

CONE: Oh, I don't know, five seconds, something like that? It is really sort of hard to tell. Some people got under desks and things just in case there was any kind of flying debris. But there wasn't.

NGUYEN: So, nothing fell off the shelves or anything like that?

CONE: Nothing fell, nothing broke that I could tell.

NGUYEN: Now, you have lived there for 25 years. You know what this feels like. And what's the first thing you did once you realized this is indeed an earthquake?

CONE: Well, certainly as a reporter you start thinking about, OK, where's the epicenter, how large of a magnitude is it, where should we send the reporters, that type of thing.

I think first probably as a newspaper reporter after all these years, and then you start thinking about your family and where are they.

NGUYEN: And how far away is the epicenter from where you are?

CONE: Well, we hear that it's in the Chino Hills area, which is a couple counties over. It's probably, I don't know, 30 miles or more?

NGUYEN: OK. So, you're fairly close, but you haven't heard of any kind of injuries or major destruction because of this?

CONE: No. We have reporters checking on that now.

We are across the street from where a new LAPD, police headquarters is being built, constructed. And all the construction workers came down and they are all standing around trying to figure out what to do next.

NGUYEN: It is a 5.8 magnitude. We understand that it could be felt all the way down to San Diego and even slightly in Las Vegas. What about this aftershock? We are being told that there's since been two aftershocks, one registering 3.8 magnitude. Did you feel any of that?

CONE: No, we didn't feel those. And those are so small that we wouldn't feel them.

NGUYEN: OK.

CONE: Five-point-eight is very moderate. There are predictions and projections of course of there being much larger ones in the L.A. area.

NGUYEN: All right.

Well, we appreciate your time, Marla Cone with "The L.A. Times." Thanks for spending a little bit of your day. I know you have got some phone calls to make at least to let your family know that you're OK..

CONE: All right. Thanks a lot.

LEMON: And as Betty just mentioned, that jolt was felt from Los Angeles to San Diego and even as far as Las Vegas.

And joining us now on the phone, Detective Gary Hassen from the San Diego Police Department, where they felt that quake there as well.

We know that it was centered near Chino Hills in San Bernardino County but also you felt it. Tell us what you felt there.

GARY HASSEN, SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, here in San Diego, it was just rolling back and forth, wasn't a jolt or anything like that. And it probably lasted a good 10 seconds.

LEMON: A good 10 seconds. So you said it was just sort of a rolling jolt.

HASSEN: No, not a rolling jolt. Just rolling back and forth, not a jolt.

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: OK.

Anything falling around you? And do you have any reports of injuries or damage there in San Diego?

HASSEN: Not that I'm aware of at this time. And there was -- nothing fell over here in the office.

LEMON: OK. What are you doing now, anything, as a precaution, sir?

HASSEN: No. We're waiting for phone calls to come in. But from everybody that has been calling that we're hearing about, it just -- was it a valid earthquake? Yes, it was up in Chino Hills, and we heard it was a 5.6 on the Richter scale.

LEMON: OK. Thank you very much, Gary Hassen in San Diego police, that jolt felt all the way -- or as he said a rolling sort of rumble all the way to San Diego. The very latest is that this happened at 11:42 a.m. Pacific time.

And so, buildings started swaying in downtown Los Angeles for several seconds. Workers were quickly evacuated we are told from office buildings. Some people saying it was very dramatic. The whole building moved as it lasted the whole time that it lasted. Some people are saying it only lasted for a very short time, seconds. And according to the Los Angeles fire department, again, terrorist were no immediate reports of damage or injuries -- Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, a couple things now.

For folks living out there in this area especially near the epicenter of Chino Hills, California, send us your I-Reports. Let us know what you felt, what you saw as it happened or shortly afterwards.

And, meantime, though, we want to take you to Chino Hills to be exact and Jodi Miller, who is with the Chino Hills Sheriff's Department. She is on the phone with us.

And, Jodi, you are as close as we have been able to get so far to the epicenter of this 5.8 magnitude quake. Tell us what you felt as it happened.

JODI MILLER, CHINO HILLS SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: Correct.

And I'm approximately 40 miles from Chino Hills. I'm actually in San Bernardino.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Beg your pardon?

NGUYEN: You said you're at the headquarters?

MILLER: I'm at sheriff's headquarters, which is in San Bernardino. I'm about 40 miles from Chino Hills.

NGUYEN: Oh, OK.

MILLER: However, we did feel significant rolling and rumbling here in the office.

I had immediately spoke to Chino Hills once the earthquake stopped after finding out that's where the epicenter was and spoke to one of the sergeants there who said they have not gotten any report of any structural damage or injury to persons. The main thing that they're getting reports of is obviously audible alarms, because of the shaking, but no reports of injuries or structural damage at this point.

NGUYEN: And what did the person in the Chino Hills department tell you about exactly what was felt as this earthquake was happening?

MILLER: Very similar to what I did here at sheriff's headquarters. Like I said, I'm about 40 miles away from them.

It was probably 10 to 12 seconds of a rolling, rumble-type earthquake. I did have things in my office that were shaking. Nothing fell off shelves or no pictures off walls or anything. And I believe that's the same thing that they experienced there in Chino Hills.

NGUYEN: So at this point no reported injuries, no buildings have sustained any damage as far as you know, but really the main problem is getting these alarms to stop going off, because I imagine there's a lot of them that are just going off continuously since this earthquake has shaken not only buildings, but cars.

MILLER: Right. Right. We do have the audible alarms and we have had -- I have been trying to follow their calls on my computer to see what kind of incidents they are getting reported. And it is like I said primarily audible alarms and they are receiving a few calls from folks who are on vacation out of the area and that they check their residence for them.

NGUYEN: OK.

Jodi Miller joining us on the phone -- Jodi, we do appropriate it.

MILLER: Oh, absolutely. Thank you.

LEMON: So, the preliminary information from the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the quake is 5.8 in magnitude at the center 29 miles east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles near Chino Hills.

I want to bring in Chad Myers here in just a little bit, because Chad has been working on -- exactly on what happened and to show us sort of where it hit.

And I'm looking at, Chad, some lines and graphs here that you have prepared for us to explain to us the magnitude of this and exactly how it occurred.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the first shaking here occurred at 42 minutes after the hour of 11:00. There's the bottom, 11:42.

And the fact that she didn't feel -- the official there didn't feel very much 40 miles away would not be unreasonable -- 40 miles away is another part of the depth thing almost. If it was 42 miles deeper than it was, then we wouldn't have felt as much in the Chino Hills area. But I know there was some violent shaking.

I have received a few e-mails already from the area of rumbling, rumbling, and at the very last minute a violent jolt at the very last minute. So not so much shaking or a jolting at the beginning, but the bottom part, the end part is where the jolting actually came in. And it's moderate earthquake, Don, between 5 and 5.9. There are 800 of these a year, most of them where people don't live, to be very honest, although though this whole Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean, that is where most of these are occurring. And some people do live there, but a lot of them happen up in Alaska or -- on Alaska and the population is just -- they have lived with these earthquakes forever.

When you do get a 5.8 under a populated area like this, you are going to get some damage. And we are just going to have to wait for that to come in.

LEMON: And, Chad, I want to inform our viewers you're looking at live pictures now, the first live pictures here from that happening and that's courtesy of KTLA. Looking at the live pictures there. Those were emergency workers on the ground.

And this of course is a shot. You can see the Hollywood Hills there and a shot of the Hollywood sign.

Our Brooke Anderson is standing by as well, as well as other reporters who have been on the scene here. And you are looking at a KTLA reporter who is reporting live from Los Angeles. And we're going to listen to her report and then we will check back in with you.

OK. We're not hearing that reporter. But again can you see people there on the ground. Obviously this reporter out in a neighborhood. You can see folks walking by. And someone -- what appears to be a golf cart there. And traffic really just streaming by.

You can imagine, Betty, not something that they want to happen but the Los Angeles area and this area pretty used to these types of activities. And they say 5.8 for them is not that severe.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: No, not at all.

And this gives you a better indication, too, because we are getting some more information from the U.S. Geological Survey that says there have been at least six aftershocks, all of them small, within about 15 minutes of the large quake in the same area. And that area being in Chino Hills, California.

Now, we spoke with someone with the sheriff's department in San Bernardino County. That's where Chino Hills is located. And she didn't feel too much of the shaking from that, just a little bit. But obviously as we get a little closer inland to where the epicenter is, we are going to get some more information of how bad this indeed was.

But looking at the numbers, it does seem to be kind of a medium- sized earthquake and the aftershocks have all been fairly small. And we have spoken with people all the way from Disneyland to our bureau in L.A., to San Bernardino County, and no one has expressed any kind of reports of injuries or buildings being damaged.

LEMON: And, listen, we want to talk -- actually listen now from people who felt the quakes. That's just coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's take a listen into that and Betty and I will join you on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of a sudden, it started shaking. I saw the walls moving a couple of feet up and down. All the (INAUDIBLE) were rattling. And I had an earthquake before in Tokyo, but it wasn't quite as shocking as this one, I think.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was working upstairs at the register. And all of a sudden I was about to sip on my coffee and the whole thing started to shake up. And because I work right in the front, I think that I felt it even before the whole like shook up, you know, happened. Yes, it was pretty interesting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was looking under the record racks, right? I thought someone was pushing and shaking it. I realized afterwards that if something were to happen, if that thing were to fall, it would have crushed my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it scary?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I'm still kind of shaken up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right, those were people, Betty, who witnessed that.

And these are live pictures now. And you can see there the hills of California, all those mountains in the area. And, again, this was 5.8 magnitude. And we are also hearing right now, no reports of any injuries in this at all.

And live pictures are coming to us from KCAL, our affiliate out there in the Los Angeles area. And also, Betty, we are also getting word now, according to the USGS -- I would imagine it is automatically recorded -- 15 aftershocks as of 3:09 Eastern. That's the latest information we have, 15 aftershocks by 3:09 Eastern, just two minutes ago, that occurred after this quake that happened 11:42 local time.

NGUYEN: And they're all very fairly small compared to the 5.8 magnitude quake that originally occurred. I think the latest one that they have registered was a 2.3. So folks aren't seeing too much damage as a result of those aftershocks.

The question is, how much damage did the original quake cause in the area right near the epicenter? We haven't been able to determine that as of yet, but according to a person we spoke with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, she says she placed a call to the Chino Hills department and they said that they hadn't heard of any injuries to anyone or to any buildings at this point, just a lot of audible alarm systems going off. LEMON: We have someone on the phone with us right now, but I want to get these live pictures again, courtesy of our affiliate KCAL and taking these sweeping chopper shots over the Los Angeles area, and the entire area where this is believed to have happened. And you saw just moments ago we had a Google Earth up showing us exactly the areas where this happened as well.

Jerome Howard is from the Anaheim Hills, California, area. He has some damage to his home. He joins us now by telephone to tell us where he was and what happened to his home.

How are you, sir?

JEROME HOWARD, RESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA: OK.

LEMON: Tell us where you were and what happened.

HOWARD: Well, I was sitting in my garage in a chair working on A computer.

And all of a sudden I saw my garage twisting. And then it started shaking. Then I felt a jolt. It was so violent that I fell out of the chair and I got right up and ran upstairs to check on my wife. And it's like neighbors are stopping by because the garage was open. They said did you feel it? Did you feel it?

And I don't know what the damage is to our home, but I do know that the house actually twisted. The garage was twisting when this happened.

LEMON: The garage was twisting?

HOWARD: Yes.

LEMON: And you said things were falling down around you?

HOWARD: Yes.

LEMON: Yes. Your wife is OK, I would imagine?

HOWARD: Yes, she's OK.

LEMON: What are your neighbors saying and doing? What was the reaction in the neighborhood? Are people coming out of their homes?

HOWARD: The reaction in the neighborhood is several people are on their way up to the elementary school to check on their kids. And they would stop by because I know them. And they said that their -- one guy said his office is a total mess. And the lady said that she hates to go back home because she has cleanup to do when she gets home. Everything in her kitchen fell over.

LEMON: OK. So, listen, for those of us who are not in the Los Angeles area and for our viewers who don't know the area, can you explain to us this apparently happened near Chino Hills in San Bernardino County. Where are you in relation to that in Anaheim Hills?

HOWARD: Well, we're approximately -- we're east of Chino Hills, but it is like northeast from us. It's not that far. If you're driving, it would only take like seven minutes to get to Chino Hills.

LEMON: Are you a native?

HOWARD: I'm not a native of California, but I have been out here since 1977. And this is not the first one I have felt, but this is the worst one that I have actually felt.

LEMON: Wow. OK. Well, we're glad that you're OK, Jerome Howard joining us from Anaheim Hills saying that his house actually twisted. He was in the garage when it happened.

And we're getting pictures coming in, just coming in to the CNN NEWSROOM, Betty, from this earthquake that happened with at least 15 aftershocks that happened moments ago in California. This is the area on our Google map where it happened.

And we were also getting live pictures from our affiliates there as well, their choppers, their tower cams. And we have been speaking to our reporters who were on ground when it happened, and some of them inside bureaus on the third floor of our bureaus.

This is KABC, pictures that are coming in, Betty, live pictures, those chopper shots that they have been feeding to us.

NGUYEN: And looking at it right there, it looks like everything is relatively normal there. And it may be considering this was just a 5.8 magnitude quake. We haven't heard of a lot of damage at this point.

It seems like, Don, everyone that we have been speaking with, whether it be our reporters or people on ground there who live in the area, they're saying they felt just a little bit of shaking for about 10 to 15 seconds but really not enough to really cause any significant damage. I think the gentleman that you just spoke with was the first to report things falling off of the walls because of all the other people that we have spoken with, they didn't really report anything to that magnitude.

LEMON: Right.

NGUYEN: But I think what's really interesting, too, is that you are looking at this 5.8 magnitude quake. And that's kind of medium on the scale, but it is something that could be felt all the way down to San Diego and felt slightly in Las Vegas.

So, there is a wide range here of people who were able to feel this. Now, 15 aftershocks, those are all very minor. And a lot of folks may not have even felt that themselves.

But I believe we are going to go on the line -- is it on the line, Tom?

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Actually, we have Brooke Anderson, who joins us now live from -- I'm being told it's not Brooke Anderson. It's Kara Finnstrom, who joins us now from our bureau in Los Angeles. As you know, breaking news happens and we are trying to get it all together for you as well.

LEMON: We're rolling with it, right?

NGUYEN: So far, tell me what you have been able to determine since we last spoke with you. Have you heard of folks who have been tremendously affected by this or pretty much the same?

KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have heard that there have been some evacuations, kind of precautionary throughout the Los Angeles area. There's lot of high-rises here. And we're on the third floor. We felt a lot of swaying.

As I mentioned to you earlier, the first jolt was very mild. But the second made you feel like you needed to get under something. And I ran into a doorway. So, as a precaution, I understand that a number of the tall buildings have -- people have come out of them just to kind of see what might happen next.

But we haven't felt any of the aftershocks here. More than anything, it was a lot of swaying of the light fixtures. Didn't see anything come off the walls. Just kind of a reminder that we do live here in Southern California.

NGUYEN: This is a good point Don is asking right now and I'm going to ask you, about the airports. Has this affected air travel, any folks trying to get to and from LAX?

FINNSTROM: That's a good question.

I haven't seen any reports of that yet. Our phones, my cell phone here is not working. We have been trying to make some phone calls, but the networks are busy. That's the only tangible effect that I have been able to measure so far. The local wires not reporting any damage, any problems so far. But as far as LAX, we can try and get through to there and see if we can find a little more information out for you.

NGUYEN: Are there being any kind of, I don't know, phone numbers or places where people can call to try to get information out? Because you brought up a very important point, and that is cell phone lines, maybe even local lines, are all busy because people are trying to call in or call out to let their loved ones know that they are OK.

FINNSTROM: Right.

Generally, with earthquakes, people always say have a radio or if you can't turn on your television set, have a radio handy. And that's part of the emergency equipment that we're always told to kind of keep handy, so that you can turn on your radio and get the latest news. And I think that's probably the best way for people to be getting information now, is from their local news media.

NGUYEN: Because all the lines are jammed up? Is that what you have been experiencing?

FINNSTROM: Yes. Well, I tried to call. I have children. I have a husband. I just called to see -- to make sure that they feel all right and to see what their experience was. And you can't get through. That's what everyone wants to do first, is kind of check in on their loved ones to see that they're OK and just kind of get that reassurance.

But again all the wires that we're hearing getting reports from, all the information that we're getting is no reports of any major damage or even any minor damage for that matter.

(CROSSTALK)

NGUYEN: Yes. We haven't heard of any major damage. I think that most that we heard of is a gentleman not too long ago who said a few things fell of off his wall. That speaks to the fact that this was a 5.8 magnitude quake.

Kara Finnstrom joining live from our Los Angeles bureau, and we will let you do some more digging to see if there is a lot of damage, at least a little bit more than what we have been able to report near the Chino Hills area, which is at the epicenter of this quake.

LEMON: Yes, it's a very good question. I didn't know that my mike was up, and was asking producers what is happening at the airport. Can you imagine being on a plane or in the airport about to fly out when you feel this rumble or jolt.

I would imagine that it would be pretty frightening. For many people, flying is not an experience that they enjoy.

Kiesha Kober, joins us now live from Chino Hills. She felt a sharp jolt for about 30 seconds, she said. Things fell off the shelves, but no damage or no one hurt.

Kiesha, thanks for joining us today in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I did a -- explain shortly what happened to you, but explain to us in full what you felt and what went on.

KIESHA KOBER, RESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA: Thank you for talking to me.

Basically, it was about 30 seconds of excitement. There was a quick jolt and it rumbled for a little while. Felt it in our feet. And then another jolt. We felt one of the aftershocks but not any of the others. And that was just like a tremor, you know, a real quick boom.

LEMON: Oh.

KOBER: Everything -- everything's fine around here. Everyone's healthy that we have been able to talk to.

We had some contractors up in the -- up on ladders just about a half-hour prior, so we're glad they have their feet on the ground.

LEMON: OK. Stand by just for a second, because we're looking -- as we look at these live pictures, that appears to be an airport. It looks like smaller airplanes are on ground, but I'm not sure if that's LAX. It could be the airport in San Diego. So, again, not exactly sure. These pictures are coming in courtesy of KTLA.

So, if you will stand by for us, we would appreciate it. We are going to get you back on the phone to talk about your experience.

But right now, we want to go to KTLA and listen in to their local coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... being towed away, so it doesn't look like the airport has been interfered with right now. And we're passing through the Burbank Airport area, now heading out toward the pass and over toward Chino Hills.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And, Bill, in a situation like this, it's best to be in the air during an earthquake. But what's the status at an airport? Do you know what their policy is when an earthquake's felt like that? Do they stop down all flights, all...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they immediately -- it is very common right away when there is an earthquake to have the operations people, the airport ops, to cruise the runways and be sure that there haven't been any ruptures in it.

They always cruise the runways to be sure that there is no degree, FOD, they call it, foreign object debris, could be little things that have fallen off of airplanes. One of those not so little things actually caused the Concorde crash some years ago in Paris. So, checking the runway to be sure that it is clear as well as not damaged, that's a routine thing, and it appears that they have already done that at Burbank. In fact, we're sort of now leaving the Burbank area, so we will be off the Burbank frequency in a moment. But, as far as we can tell, there was no problem down there.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Bill Smith in our helicopter, we appreciate that, because that's an excellent resource for us. We know they are on their way.

We have Candice in Thousand Oaks who is on the phone with us.

Candice -- OK, we don't have Candice on the phone quite yet. We're going to try and effort that.

Let me recap in the meantime for you. We had a 5.8 magnitude earthquake around 11:42 this morning centered near Chino Hills in San Bernardino, 29 miles east-southeast of Los Angeles. This was a very strong shaker, felt as far south as San Diego, we're being told as east as Las Vegas. And certainly it's been felt all throughout the West Coast.

We are getting official word from the PIO of Los Angeles Fire Department that so far that they have not had any calls for reports of damage or injury in Los Angeles. But we have been hearing about buildings swaying in downtown.

I did just get something off the wire, that there have been reports of glass breaking and items falling from shelves at some locations in the Pomona area, although none of those incidents are being reported as serious.

So, let's go to Sam now -- Sam.

NGUYEN: All right. So, we have been listening to our affiliate KTLA in Los Angeles, as they are covering this story, just as we are.

We got some new information for you. We are...

LEMON: Real quickly, that was the Burbank Airport. I just want to alert our viewers that we are talking about the airport there, Betty, FROM KCAL. Go ahead. Sorry.

NGUYEN: OK.

Back to this new information. California has two nuclear plants. And so we were getting some info on exactly whether they had received any kind of damage because of this. And here is what we know. The closest of those nuclear plants to the epicenter is located about 50 miles south of that Chino Hills area.

And according to the spokesperson there at the nuclear plant, that the quake should not affect operations, because it is well below the threshold for any conceivable damage to the plants. And here's why. Those plants are rated in excess of 7 or 7.2 quakes. So, this did not register high enough to cause any damage.

And according to the spokesperson, that plant is running at 100 percent, both reactors. And there is no apparent damage to the facility. So, that's good information to know. Again, just -- this quake just was not big enough or strong enough to cause any problems at California's two nuclear plants.

Good information. Again, though, the quake was a 5.8 magnitude. And we're looking right now at pictures of a water main break. So, obviously, it's caused some problems.

LEMON: It has caused something.

Chad -- we are going to get Chad in.

Real quickly, I want to report this information. This is important information we're getting from General Russel Honore. We know the general was in charge of the whole cleanup in Louisiana. But he's saying from Northern Command that the ground runway radar is out at LAX. And this is what controls the controller from moving aircraft on the ground. So far, he said he's had no impact on DOD facilities in California at all. And, again, this information coming to us from General Russel Honore, Northern Command. The ground runway radar is out at LAX. We just showed you pictures of a water main break. So, it's having some effect.

Our Chad Myers joins us now from the Severe Weather Center with what he has on this.

Go ahead, Chad.

MYERS: Well, they have reduced it, Don, to a 5.4. And that's not unusual that they take a look at it again and they say, well, it wasn't what it was or it could have been -- they could have bumped it up to a 5.9.

They didn't. They reduced it to a 5.4, four magnitudes smaller, which is great news, because the higher you get, you up into the sixes, and you really start to get shaking. And, so, a 5.4 not nearly what a 5.8 would be. But a lot of people obviously still a little bit shocked about what's going on here.

Also many times we get numbers out of these computer-generated earthquakes later on called aftershocks. And until you get a seismologist to look at it, some of that number, that 15 may actually be reduced to five if those five were just shaking for a little bit longer time. And they will figure out how many aftershocks there were.

The biggest one that was feelable, so to speak, was in fact a 3.8 about nine minutes after the original shock -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Chad Myers, thank you very much for that.

We are trying to -- we're efforting now -- as we move on, Betty, and talk about this, we want to get General Russel Honore on the phone, because he's given us some very valuable information about what's happening at the airport, and also warning people the smell of gas when you go back in your homes, that's the important thing. What do you do after that?

NGUYEN: Right.

LEMON: Betty, you want to take us to KTLA?

NGUYEN: Yes. We're looking at some pictures right now. And we are trying to understand exactly what's happened here. It looks like something was under construction. And I don't know if damage has occurred because of it.

But let's take a listen to the local coverage there at KTLA, our affiliate in Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Business as usual down here. People are still heading on to their buses. This, as you know, is a very busy intersection, busy part of Los Angeles. We spoke with two women who were actually in the middle of a job interview -- imagine that -- when this earthquake hit. They said that they were on the fifth floor of a building interviewing for positions at USC and they said that they were unable to get out of the doors on the fifth floor, so they tried to get in the elevator and were stuck for a little while.

But, thankfully, when they got outside, they were able to get some cell phone reception for just a little bit of time to be able to contact their relatives and friends.

So, right now, as you see, it is very still, as I mentioned, business as usual in this area. People are still milling about their day.

Let's see if we can talk to anybody.

Sir, did you happen to be in one of these buildings when this earthquake hit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I happened to in that building when that happened.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What were you doing in there? And what did it feel like?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was on the fifth floor. It just shook.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did it feel like? Did it feel like a rocking motion or a swaying?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It felt like it was going to break down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you ever been through an earthquake before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, never.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freak you out a little bit?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're OK, though?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What's your name, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Andy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thank you so much.

So, as you can see, people are still milling about their day. There's a bus full of people that are actually just being let go, let off the bus right now. And we have seen a number of fire trucks in this area come through. But, again, we haven't seen anybody being treated for any injuries because apparently everything's OK down here -- Sam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very, very good, Rachel (ph).

Let me share with you a couple e-mails at KTLA.com that we have received, one from the area very near where you are.

"It was a very strong earthquake. I live in an apartment in the first floor in the Koreatown area of Los Angeles, where is exactly where Rachel is right now. I was able to feel the whole apartment shaking. Since I was alone, I got a little freaked out and called every member of my family. My sister was in the seventh floor of a building near Lebray (ph) and Wilshire (ph), felt the whole building shaking, and had to evacuate. She said she feared the building would fall down. Obviously, it did not."

And Tiffany (ph) sends us an e-mail at KTLA.com, where we have message boards and your viewer mail: "Hi, I live in Chino Hills, and was home at the time of the earthquake. I was on the second floor of my house, and I heard a small rumble. Then everything started shaking. It felt like I was sitting in the back of a bus while it was driving over a line of speed bumps. I was too stunned to know what to do."

NGUYEN: We have been listening to our affiliate KTLA out in Los Angeles. And they had a reporter on the scene there near the Chino Hills area.

And that's the closest to the epicenter that we have been able to determine at this point. As you know, as you can see on the screen there, this earthquake has been downgraded to a 5.4. And there have been some 20-plus small aftershocks.

So, what we need from you, if you were in that area, did you experience it? Did you see it? Send us, not only your thoughts and what you saw and felt, but send us your pictures as well.

And all you have to do is just send it to ireports@CNN.com.

LEMON: We want to talk to you now about some of the critical services happening out there, especially at the airport. As I said earlier, can you imagine being on a plane or being on the runway and having it taking off and then you feel this? General Russell Honore offered us some very valuable information moments ago about Northern Command and the ground runway radar at LAX being out and a warning about going back into your home and precautions you should take. General Russel Honore joining us on the phone.

Thank you, sir, for joining us on the phone. Give us an update on the ground runway radar at LAX.

LT. GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RET): I have no further information to report on. Right now people just need to listen to the government officials. But one thing for people going back into their homes and those that are in their homes -- inspect your home for gas leaks. Something could have come loose as a result of this shaking and you -- if you smell gas, leave your home and report it to the officials. Number two, check for water leaks once you get back in your home. Look for tall furniture that may have shifted.

And if have you small children, please, please, keep them close to you. And then do not allow them to be in front of tall furniture until your home's inspected and you just have further word from your local government on the possibilities of aftershocks. The other thing is, check on disabled relatives. People who you know that live along -- at home, see how they're doing. This could be very disturbing to people with disabilities, particularly those with hearing and sight problems. Check on them immediately. Stay off the phones.

Do not call just for the sake of calling to chat about how strong the earthquake was. We need to leave those lines open so people can check on their relatives. But please inspect your home and do not go into it if you smell gas, leave the home and report it to authorities. Check for water leaks. Check for furniture that may have shifted and keep your children close to you.

This will be very disturbing to the elderly and to young children who will be excited, because you got excited when you left your home during the earthquake. So be very careful. If you have a tall office building, the leadership in those buildings should consider early release of people until the buildings are thoroughly inspected. And use stairways as much as possible as opposed to elevators.

And check for accountability of all your people. People work for you, get 100 percent accountability and listen to your first responders. If you have Internet access, go to www.redcross.org and there will be more information for you.

LEMON: Www.redcross.org. You heard it from the horse's mouth there.

Retired General Russel Honore who is used to coming in after disasters and telling people how to conduct and handle themselves. General Russel Honore, we appreciate you.

If you get any more information regarding LAX, will you bring it to us?

HONORE: Absolutely. I'll leave that to the FAA and people at LAX. That was of first importance. They may have fixed the problem but that needs to be followed up on immediately. It will have a disturbing effect on flight patterns.

LEMON: Thank you very much for that.

The general making very smart points there, common sense. If you smell gas anywhere obviously, leave your home and report anything that's suspicious like water leaks or that to emergency officials and make sure your children are safe as well. Don't let them go back to the home until you've checked all furniture, the stability of that as well.

NGUYEN: Let's go back to Los Angeles and our affiliate KCAL. Right now we're on KTLA. We will switch it for you momentarily. As we watch the coverage we know they had a lot of folks on the ground, as we do. Our reporters so far have seen much in the way of damage, not seen much in the way of damage. Let's see if KCAL has been able to find any damage as a result of this substantial earthquake.

Let's listen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... Thanks for letting us know how things are going. We'll check back in with Greg Mills in Chino later on. We told you earlier that the Los Angeles world airport out in LAX, their services were briefly disrupted and the building was evacuated for a short time. But we're now learning over at LAX they're let their employees back in. No real damage there. The water heater broke, some leaking water but the operations go on as usual at LAX. We have Mike Williams, director of airport operations, this is for San Bernardino County on the line with us to tell us what things are going on, for instance at the Ontario Airport.

Mike, you with us?

MIKE WILLIAMS, SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY DIRECTOR OF AIRPORTS: Yes, I am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on at your airports there, primarily the international airport in Ontario?

WILLIAMS: Unfortunately I can't speak to the Ontario Airport. I don't have any information on them. I can tell you the Chino airport suspended operations in accordance with standard protocol for approximately 20 minutes and operations at Chino have resumed as of 12:10.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did not find any or hear of any damage outside the airport?

WILLIAMS: That's correct.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And is Chino Airport the only airport out there that you service?

WILLIAMS: Yes. In that area that's the only airport the county owns and operates. As you are aware, Ontario is owned and operated by Los Angeles World Airports.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, Mike, did you get in contact with other airports around the area other than those out in San Bernardino County ...

NGUYEN: We've been listing to KCAL, our local affiliate in Los Angeles as they get assessment of any damage at the airport surrounding this Chino Hills area. At least nearby.

We want to go to our correspondent on the ground, that being Ted Rowlands. He's in Downtown Los Angeles, which is about 29 miles away from the epicenter which again is near Chino Hills.

Ted, what have you been able to see and hear as a result of this earthquake? Are you on the line with us, Ted? TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

NGUYEN: I was asking you, were you in Downtown Los Angeles. Have you been able to see or hear anything as a result of this earthquake?

ROWLANDS: Yes. We're a little bit southeast of Los Angeles where there was a water main break in the pavement is buckling in this intersection at City Paris Drive and Eastern. And it's created a huge mess. And city crews are just responding here to try to assess the damage and figure out how to fix this.

It is going to cause some localized problems here. I think this is what we'll see in the next few hours, localized issues with infrastructure and streets and bridges. And officials are now actively going out and looking at bridges making sure they're secure and areas like this.

Typically you get these reports very slowly. And we came across this one, it is very significant. This is multiplied it at any rate throughout this region. It is going to be a real headache. You've got - I'm looking out at this intersection. I can see seven different areas where the pavement literally has buckled up and water is gushing out of a number of these holes that have been created because of this earthquake.

NGUYEN: Yes, Ted, we are looking at live pictures from KABC. I am assuming this is the area where you are. We don't know for sure at this point but we can see, there are numerous holes in the pavement here where water is -- this is KCAL where we can get a better indication of what Ted was talking about. And officers are on the scene to try to control some of the traffic.

Let me ask you something really quickly, though, Ted. You mention the bridges and making sure that they are stable enough for people to pass over them. Are people getting any kind of instruction as to where they can and cannot go at this point just as a precaution?

ROWLANDS: Well, not really. Because it is a fluid situation. The advice here is just be careful and especially in more rural areas, and older bridges. I think the significant freeway overpasses, all those areas, there doesn't seem to be any issues with damage at this point at least. But boy, look at this and this is the same picture you're seeing via the chopper. Because the chopper is above me. You can see there is significant opportunity for damage from an earthquake of this magnitude. And this is an example of it. How much damage throughout the region is just going to unfold over the next few hours and days.

NGUYEN: I have a feeling we'll see more of this. At first we heard of zero damage and no injuries now we see it trickle through. No pun intended, because a water main break there and it is causing some problems in that particular area.

All right. Ted Rowlands, we're going to let you go for a moment as you get more information for us. But of course, we're going to continue to follow this with rolling coverage here on CNN.

LEMON: Absolutely. It's been amazing, the resources we've put behind this and we've gotten so many people on the phone and on camera to talk to you about this 5.4 magnitude quake. Ed Lavandera who was at a theme park in Disneyland, several of our producers and correspondents who were in the office at the time. And of course General Russel Honore who was offering information just moments ago about taking safety precautions for going back into your home.

There is a press conference going on now, emergency workers I believe in the Los Angeles area. We'll listen now to the coverage from KTLA.

KATE HUTTON, CALTECH: ... And areas that are green and blue are -- you people probably felt it but didn't notice it as being particularly alarming. You can compare that here with the account "did you feel it map" which is people's response of what they actually felt. You can see it looks similar to the instrumental map.

You can also look at the actual seismograms over there on the right side at several of our different stations. You can see what the recordings look like. So if you have any questions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us how deep it was and how significant that is in what you'd feel?

HUTTON: The depth was about seven miles. That's pretty shallow by worldwide standards. In fact any earthquake in California is pretty much considered shallow by worldwide standards.

In general, if a quake is much deeper, like 60 miles or something like that, then it's not felt as strongly at the surface because no place on the surface is very close to it. But it's felt over a wider area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What size area are you familiar with in that you don't know the exact fault obviously but is this the same system that ruptured with the Whittier Narrows earthquake?

HUTTON: I don't want to stick my neck out on that, but I think probably not. We've been talking about the Whittier Narrows earthquake because it's the last significant earthquake in that general vicinity. In general vicinity means within ten miles, 15 miles. The Whittier Narrows earthquake in case you don't remember was in 1987 ....

LEMON: You're listening to a press conference happening at Caltech out in Los Angeles. That was Kate Hudson. She's updating the local stations there on exactly what happened.

Meantime we want to go now to our producer, Paul Vercammen. He was driving through Chino Hills when it happened.

Paul, tell us what happened as you were driving.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN PRODUCER: Hello, phone service is down here. I assume can you hear me.

What we're seeing now is things are pretty calm in Chino. We've had quite a few reports from businesses of stuff that's come off store shelves. It was very, very unnerving for people who work around here. One man who was working at Rubio's described it as it felt like we were in a popcorn machine being jolted up and down. He said people then ran out of the restaurant, as perhaps this was just the first in the beginnings of a much stronger earthquake, but then it calmed down.

We also felt it at our bureau in Hollywood. And in driving out of Hollywood all along Sunset Boulevard in the high-rise buildings you could see people were coming down from the stairs and perhaps alarms had gone off and scared them out of there or others had told them to leave. It was an odd scene. You see all these people at noon standing outside their buildings looking around wondering what would happen next.

But at first blush here in Chino Hills not seeing any significant damage. This is a community that's half-way between Riverside and Long Beach. It's in Riverside County. It is a new community and that can help in an earthquake. The reason why, if you've got new buildings that has obviously have been built for earthquake protection and you don't have the older more vulnerable brick masonry buildings you won't see widespread damage. So, so far, so good.

LEMON: Paul Vercammen joining us by telephone. Thank you very much for that. Paul, we could hear you just fine.

Again, we are looking at a water main break as a consequence of this earthquake, we believe.

We're also joined by Donna Wheatley. She is from El Segundo and she was in her office at the time. She is joining us now to tell us how she reacted and her office workers reacted -- Donna?

DONNA WHEATLEY, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Oh, my God. I'm like scared. We felt a jolt. Then shaking. And shaking seemed to last forever. I've been in a few earthquakes. Northridge being the biggest. And I can't explain it. It's just a shaking. In fact, I thought the earthquake was closer than it is. We're just south of LAX, less than a mile south.

LEMON: Real quickly, Donna, just tell us real quickly what you and your office workers did whether this happened.

WHEATLEY: With me, I grabbed my purse. I'm like, I'm out of here. And I kind of just stood there to see how long this thing was going to last. And that was it. The office workers, everybody started rumbling around and like what's going on? It's an earthquake!

Pretty much, we had one person, Delores, who was so calm. Oh, our building's on rollers. We'll be OK.

LEMON: OK.

WHEATLEY: Thanks to Delores. We're OK. LEMON: We're glad everyone is OK. Donna Wheatley joining us from El Segundo.

NGUYEN: Let's take you on the phone to May Alhassen, someone in West Covino. This person also felt the quake.

May, are you on the line? Having difficulties obviously. Lot of folks having difficulties getting phone calls in and out of the Los Angeles area because of this earthquake. A lot of people trying to reach their loved ones just to let them know they're OK. On top of that you see damage like this. Live pictures from KCAL, our affiliate there in Los Angeles of a water main break. And you can see that's obviously affecting traffic.

This may be one of many that we see as people start to go back into the neighborhoods and assess the damage. We spoke with General Russel Honore a little bit earlier who put out a real important warning I thought when it comes to going back home. When these folks go back to their different communities, make sure you take a good look around. Not only look for water breaks but also look for the smell of gas. That's something that obviously you cannot see or hear but if you smell it, it is an important sign you need to contact local authorities.

LEMON: He warned about telephones as well. As we were with Betty -- or May Alhassen, don't use the phones unless you have to. Don't call people and say, you know what? This was -- it was shaking, rumbling, what happened.

NGUYEN: Just tell them you're OK and when everything settles a little bit we'll call you back. I believe we do have May Alhassen on the phone with us now.

May, are you there?

MAY ALHASSEEN, CALIFORNIA RESIDENT: Yes, I'm there. Can you hear me?

NGUYEN: Yes. We can hear you now. Let me ask you this. You are in West Covina. How far away is that from the epicenter which is in Chino Hills?

ALHASSEN: It's about 10 miles away.

NGUYEN: OK. You're fairly close. Give us an indication of what you felt.

ALHASSEN: OK. So I was at my family house in West Covina in one of the rooms. It shook for about 10 seconds. I was born and raised in West Covina, California my whole life. I realized, OK, this is an earthquake. Right now. So you assess the situation and you ask yourself, is this going to last longer? Do I have to find someplace to hide and tuck and cover?

NGUYEN: So what did you do? ALHASSEN: So my sister comes out all the rooms are in close proximity to each other. She's like go in the doorway -- go in your doorway, stand. Stand there. We all go out in our doorway. And so we all go out in the doorway. Actually, my autistic brother was about to take a shower and he's freaking out because he can't handle natural disasters. He actually doesn't go anywhere where he knows natural disasters. He's probably -- he was freaking out and he is probably going to not want to leave the house all day today.

NGUYEN: Did you feel any aftershocks after that first jolt?

ALHASSEN: No, we didn't actually.

NGUYEN: And you've lived there for quite some time. So you're fairly familiar with what this feels like and what to do in the event of an earthquake.

ALHASSEN: Yes. Yes.

NGUYEN: Did you see any damage at all? Did things fall off of the shelves or anything like that in your home?

ALHASSEN: Yes.

NGUYEN: OK. Explain to us what happened.

ALHASSEN: So a couple of things. Anything that was loose on the shelf fell down. Couple of frames pictures on the wall, fell, broke. Glass was in some parts of the house. We have a treadmill and a framed picture fell on the treadmill with glass. And we usually use the treadmill. So it is a good thing nobody was on it at the time.

Besides that, just like everybody's been reporting, things falling off shelves. Not too dramatic. We were trying to call our father at work and my brother on the freeway. So that would have freaked me out being in a car on a freeway.

NGUYEN: But you haven't seen any water main breaks or other kinds of problems as a result in your community?

ALHASSEN: No. No, we haven't.

NGUYEN: That's a good thing so far. May Alhassen in West Covina joining us by phone. Thank you for talking with us today about your experience.

LEMON: Let's go now to Huntington Beach. Danny Casler joins us by phone.

Sir, where were you when this happened? What did you do?

DANNY CASLER, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA: You know what? I was actually in bed. I just had my wisdom teeth removed so I've been on some pain medication. And I woke up because the dogs were shaking in bed and I was thinking that they were maybe a little irritated, wanted to go to the bathroom or something. Then I got up and noticed the entire house was shaking back and forth. I got up and ran outside in my underwear and noticed there's quite a bit of people outside as well. It was a pretty interesting experience.

LEMON: I would imagine if you had to run outside in your underwear that it was a pretty interesting experience. But everything is OK. Correct?

CASLER: Water's running. Electricity's fine. There's no damage but I'm sure we're going to hear some things about people falling down stair wells and car accidents here pretty soon.

LEMON: Possibly. Possibly. We're hearing so far that no reports of any injuries. Hey, thank you very much. Glad you're OK. Make sure you put some pants on. OK?

CASLER: Orange County signing out (ph).

LEMON: Thank you. As he's saying again, we may get some injuries. We may hear other reports but right now officials are saying no reports of any injuries or no major damage there. The only report that we got was that possibly there was some problems at LAX. But very minor and nothing that really affected air traffic or flow.

NGUYEN: I'm looking at a report that says some tiles fell from one of the gates at LAX as water flowed from a burst pipe just seconds after the quake but nothing major. Although we did see a water main break in the Los Angeles area. We could see a few more of those as people are getting out into the communities and start to assess the damage.

And speaking of folks in the communities, folks who have experienced this first-hand, we want to take you to our Veronica De La Cruz who has been poring over the I-Reports that have been coming in.

I know you've read a few of them so far. What are you hearing?

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here's the thing, Betty, so far no pictures or video. But I want to go ahead and share some of the comments with you. We're going to read a couple of them.

Like you were saying earlier, this quake went all the way to San Diego. Our first one is from Lorie Brock (ph) who is there, she said she was at work when it happened. She said she heard it was a 5.8, she said it felt like it was wobbling. She is originally from Ohio. So, she was pretty freaked out. Everyone said it was pretty normal for California. There was to this damage in her building. Again, it felt like wobbling, maybe a wave. It was more like a wave movement. She's not used to the earthquakes, so she's very shaken up at this point.

Nate Parsons, he is in Orange County, California. He said, "It was a pretty eerie feeling as it kept rolling for about ten seconds. It knocked out cell phones for 15 seconds. And abnormal for quakes in our area. We haven't had a quake in a while. Almost forgot we were in California." And Ed Fisher is from Diamond Bar, California. He was working in the city of Orange when it happened. This is what he had to say. He said, "Wow one that was a big one. I'm a native here in California and that was a strong shake. First it was like a big drop, and then some side-to-side rolling movement. It lasted about 20 seconds."

He's working in the City of Orange, and he is on his way home to his house in Diamond Bar. He wants to make sure that all is OK there.

Jay Kwan (ph) in Montclair, California, says, "I live on the fourth floor in my apartment building. I felt it around 11:50. It was a back-and-forth shake for about ten seconds. I have to say, it is the strongest shake I felt since the Northridge quake when I was young. I was at my home in Montclair which is in San Bernardino County." Jay Kwan lives in Riverside County, near campus. That's where that person goes to school and says there appears to be no damage, but the cell phone towers appear to be out or overloaded because my text messages or calls aren't going through immediately.

So, again, Betty, good news here. No reports of any damage. No injuries. We don't have any pictures or video, but I am monitoring the I-Report Web site to see if we do get some.

NGUYEN: Hopefully folks who are watching that did capture some of the pictures or video of what they experienced and they'll send it in to ireport@cnn.com.

We're also getting more information here from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger who has issued a statement regarding the earthquake in Los Angeles. He said he's spoken to a lot of the city officials including the Los Angeles mayor and the city manager there in Chino Hills which is near the epicenter.

And here's what his statement says. "Our state office of emergency services has reached out to local governments in the affected areas to ensure that levees, bridges, and other critical infrastructure are inspected and declared safe. We are activating our regional and state emergency operations centers, and we'll continue to monitor the situation closely."

And that's really what's important here. When folks go home and they see that everything is A-OK, a lot of the problems could lie underneath the ground, whether that be pipes that have burst or what we're looking at right here, a bridge that has become not stable due to the shaking in the ground.

LEMON: It could become unstable. And that's exactly as you were reading that, I was pointing out, the booth is pointing out, look, there are pictures as Betty was talking now about someone checking those bridges and that's what the government said. Checking the bridges and the levees in the area to make sure that everything is safe. All the critical infrastructure are inspected and declared safe. But that's what you're looking at there, live, just a second ago here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Again, these live pictures coming to us from KABC and there's the cork worker on the ground inspecting one of the overpasses, one of the bridges. The pictures courtesy of KTLA.

I want to go now to Kareen Wynter who is in San Diego. She was working on a story at the time and we are told that they felt the rumble from Los Angeles, San Diego, even as far away as Las Vegas.

KAREEN WYNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Hi there, Don.

We're working a story in San Diego and many of the employees inside this office that we're conducting an interview noticed the chairs moving. Some people mentioned computer monitors they saw moving. Book bags and also, interestingly enough, don, they reported feeling dizzy. They thought it was just a train, because there is a train track apparently nearby here, but when they saw the chairs moving, they said you know what, this is something different. Should we run for cover here?

Also what I noticed after this happened was the glazed kind of confused look in some people's eyes. And it underscores what we are all facing here right now. The nervous energy. It doesn't matter what scale something like this falls on. Many people here in California you pretty much know it's just a matter of time really before the next big one hits, so there's always this nervous energy when something like this happens.

I've been listening to a lot of the reports from residents, even our own reporters and people talking about phones not working well. In fact, I'm having problems with my phone. Not sure how much longer you'll be able to hear me. But that is another residual affect here. Kara Finnstrom also mentioned earlier in one of her reports, when something like this happens, Don, the first thing that comes to mind is, gosh, let's check on the family. And a lot of us may call home to see how our loved ones are doing.

My nanny -- I have a little guy at home and my nanny reported feeling the aftershocks from this earthquake and said that she didn't know what was going on, and she also felt dizzy. It brings to mind the fact that we all need to have an emergency response plan when something like this happens because it literally leaves you rattled. You're in shock.

I reached out as well to the public information officer here in San Diego, San Diego Emergency Services and they mentioned the fact that there are no damages. No injuries at all. And this is a poll taken, Don, for the 18 cities here in San Diego County. This is all a little bit preliminary. They're still waiting to give a final report on -- on, you know, whether or not there could be more damages in the area. But they said right now, no damages, no injuries. And also there's a nuclear generating station here. It's the San Onofre, no damages to report as well. That's how things look.

LEMON: Kareen, thank you very much for your reporting out there. Very concise report, I might add. Talking about what's happening in San Diego County.

And as Betty told you moments ago, the governor issuing a statement as well, saying that he's making sure that every structure, every infrastructure, in the state -- making sure that they are deemed safe. And that they are inspected before people go over those overpasses, those bridges or what have you.

So, they're checking that to make sure that that is all safe. Also getting some new information here. We heard about possible problems at LAX. This is from the LAX Airport. They're saying that initial inspections of terminals and the airfield at both LAX and OMT, operations at both airports considered normal. There are no reports of any injuries and the only damage currently being reported is a broken water heater in gate 71, terminal seven, resulting in flooding in the checked luggage preparation area.

So, that's good news as it comes to that. We got a report earlier from Northern Command Russel Honore that the ground radar was out at LAX. They may have gotten it fixed as he said, and he would leave to it Northern Command to give us an update on that, Betty.

NGUYEN: All right, let's get more information on what had happened in the coming minutes and hours after this earthquake. We've already reported at least some 20 aftershocks. Kate Hutton with the U.S. Geological Survey has a warning to folks in the immediate area. We spoke with her a little bit earlier. Let's take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUTTON: But I would not be too surprised to find people feeling aftershocks over the next few days.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the magnitude like? Is it going to be 3s, probably?

HUTTON: Well, most of them are going to be much smaller than that. Most of them will be in the 1s and 2s. But there might be occasionally earthquakes -- aftershocks in the 3s. There might even be a 4. There's always that one percent chance that there could be something bigger than 5.4.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: OK. So, there you go. Be prepared and so far there have been numerous aftershocks, but they really haven't been of much magnitude. I think the largest one was a 3.8, and a lot of the people that we spoke with, Don, really did not feel any of these 20-plus aftershocks that have been reported so far.

LEMON: Yes, they reported up to 26 aftershocks and maybe more will come in, especially listening to our Chad Myers, since we know how these occur and always aftershocks after that. So, this first started as maybe a 5.8 magnitude and 5.6 and now a 5.4. But, again, you know, the epicenter was very close to the Los Angeles area. Really in the Chino area.

Let's listen in real quickly to KTLA and see what our local affiliates are reporting there on the ground. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again, she's telling us 27 aftershocks have happened already. They're now becoming less frequent as more time passes away from this initial tremor.

LEMON: All right, that's KTLA reporting there. Our affiliate there on the ground as well as our affiliate KABC and we've gotten so much information and video and live pictures as them. We want to thank them as we get to the top of the hour and CNN's Wolf Blitzer who is going to join us in just a bit here. But you see there, Betty, what the governor said, all the inspections that are going on in the area.

NGUYEN: We are looking at one of the bridges there near the Los Angeles area. People working there are keep a very close eye on the bridges and the levees and even the roadways because there could be some instability as a result of this earthquake. So, a lot of these bridges are being inspected. As we saw a little bit earlier, there was even a water main break that had already occurred in one particular area, so folks who are heading home, be cautious. When you do get inside your home, make sure that you do not smell any gas. Because, that could pose a major problem should you.

LEMON: Absolutely. And we're getting close to the top of the hour and that's when our Wolf Blitzer always joins us in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Wolf Blitzer has been speaking to officials. His producers working on this story as well. One of those people he's going to speak to in just about 10 seconds, the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa.

NGUYEN: So, we'll be listening to that. As we wrap this up, we want you to know there's much more to come right here on CNN. Stay tuned for "THE SITUATION ROOM" which is just seconds away.

LEMON: Go ahead, Wolf.