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Continued Coverage of Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake in Southern California; State of Emergency Declared in Kern County. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired July 06, 2019 - 02:00   ET

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


[02:00:00]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

CYRIL VANIER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The breaking news is out of Southern California, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. That is significantly stronger than the 6.4 that hit the day before.

Data from the U.S. Geological Survey shows it to be in about the same location as Thursday's event. That puts it near the town of Ridgecrest, California, about 240 kilometers or 150 miles north of Los Angeles. That's in the Mojave Desert.

There are reports of multiple fires and injuries in the area but no deaths, no fatalities. More than a thousand customers are without power and the California governor has activated the state's emergency operations to the highest level.

CNN correspondents join us from Southern California with the latest. Let's start with Alex Field in Ridgecrest -- Alex.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cyril, it is going to be a long night for people here in Ridgecrest. The power is out. It is dark. There is not a clear handle right now on how much damage was done.

But certainly the people throughout this community lived through a terrifying number of seconds as that second tremor struck. It was, of course, as you say much more powerful than the first one. We felt it alongside the rest of the community here, people taking cover, people screaming, people concerned about injuries.

Some people briefly, it seems, trapped in their homes. Then we witnessed a fire and immediate onslaught of emergency vehicles quickly responding. But certainly a little bit of difficulty getting through to 9-1-1 in the immediate moments following that quake.

This is a night that people in this community will not soon forget. Of course, what is most important right now is to get a handle on what kind of injuries there could be, whether or not anyone remains trapped and what kind of structural damage there could be. Even after this quake tonight --

(CROSSTALK) VANIER: Alex, I'm going to interrupt you briefly because we are getting news now from the USGS and they're giving us another update. So we want to listen to that.

DR. LUCY JONES, SEISMOLOGIST: -- of earthquakes. And we have a 4.8 aftershock that is just beginning and we'll be coming down here soon. But we shouldn't have any shaking. We should turn the sound off.

One thing we wanted to show you. Oh, the estimate is now up to 5. Maybe we will feel it. If this is a 5, it will be our third aftershock of magnitude 5 or greater. And the -- we've also had -- I just got the total, 17 magnitude 4s and over 70 magnitude 3s since the main shock happened.

And we have the aftershock going. This comes out as actually 5, it will be the third one above magnitude 5. And I just felt that. OK. Very, very slightly. We barely felt it.

The one thing that we added to this was -- we brought up a picture. Our first photo in from the field in from USGS geologist Ben Brooks (ph), Rob, you want to take it.

ROBERT DE GROOT(?), USGS: So as I mentioned earlier, we do have geologists in the field. So they are able to get out. This is along Highway 178 that -- it actually had been damaged in a different area during the magnitude 6.4. What we're looking at here is damage associated presumably with the fault offset.

You can see where the road, down the road, it has actually moved to the right. So this is the right lateral horizontal displacement that we were talking about earlier that's associated with a larger event, with a magnitude 7.1.

There's about --

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: And the road appears to be --

DE GROOT(?): Yes, it's down towards the southeast end of this magnitude 7.1 sequence. So --

QUESTION: Closer to Trona?

DE GROOT(?): Yes, closer to Trona.

JONES: Right here.

ROB: And we suspect that the fault is actually ruptured much further to the northwest. That is the area that's on the China Lake Naval Weapons Station. Presumably they're not able to get out there tonight.

But we are obviously seeing displacements that are associated with this earthquake. And what it's seeing here, this is about 37 centimeters. JONES: About one foot.

DE GROOT(?): About a foot in total. And one thing you can notice in this, it's actually not just a single break, right, there is a distribution across numerous faults. And that's what we had also seen before. This is a --

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

[02:05:00]

QUESTION: So does that mean we're looking at a surface rupture of about 25 miles in length?

DE GROOT(?): Well, this is just one point. And it's down towards the south. I would speculate that we will find surface rupture along to the northwest as well.

QUESTION: Am I incorrect in thinking there would be more of the surface rupture closer to the point of origin?

DE GROOT(?): It can be highly variable. And in fact in a number of cases where the epicenter is located actually has a smaller amount of slip.

JONES: If there is -- there is huge variability. At the ends of the fault you often see less than the middle of the fault because it's tapering off before it ends. And this does appear to be at the very southern end of the rupture zone.

DE GROOT(?): Hopefully they'll be able to get out maybe tomorrow or the next day and look along other sections of the rupture. But this is a pretty dramatic picture. Fortunately, they were able to actually get out there tonight. Presumably, I think these guys and gals are going to be working throughout the night to gather as much data as they can.

QUESTION: Will we see more of this tomorrow?

DE GROOT(?): I suspect so, yes.

QUESTION: How many people are out there?

DE GROOT(?): You know, I don't have an exact count but I would say probably 10 to 15, maybe more.

JONES: There is a few of them that have come from the USGS but there is also geologists from the Southern California Earthquake Center, which is a consortium of all the universities. So I think we're seeing scientists from a lot of UCs and a lot of other institutions are going to be out there you don't get many chances when you're a field geologist to collect this sort of data.

QUESTION: On that note, I was in Ridgecrest until just a couple of hours ago and I ran into geologists everywhere I went. A lot of them were there casually because they got to see what was happening there. At what point do all those people become activated and become a

network of information?

DE GROOT(?): So it's actually very difficult logistically to coordinate all this. The USGS is teamed up with the California Geological Survey to take the lead on this, which is typically what's done in these types of situations.

But as Lucy said, there are lots of other geologists and scientists who can help out. They are actually setting up a command or coordination center out in the field so that people know where to go. They're not stepping on each other's toes. They can use their resources as best as possible or most efficiently as possible.

JONES: There used to be a time when it was more chaotic. We now usually try to coordinate. We have set up a clearing house and we're gradually starting to -- even the geologists come into the 21st century and start having apps to be able to share the information. So each earthquake, we get a little further down that digital spectrum.

QUESTION: The depth of the earthquake again, you said it was perhaps 10 miles deep.

Does that define the intensity at all?

JONES: No.

DE GROOT(?): No. That's just where it started. And as I mentioned just a couple of minutes ago, many times, the epicenter, the hypocenter, may have a small amount of slip relative to the other parts of the fault.

As the rupture propagates out across that fault, it can grow. You can get much larger displacements and much greater release of energy.

JONES: And this picture is proof that the fault ruptured all the way up to the surface.

QUESTION: Looks like earlier a 5-plus was a certainty for the rest of the time there.

Have those percentages changed at all in the last 20 minutes?

JONES: No.

QUESTION: Doctor, when you talk about this being a 7.1 there, what is it that we're feeling in L.A. kind of roughly?

JONES: The magnitude -- it does not depend on location. It is a 7.1, period. There is no location to that. To describe what we feel, we talk about intensity. And it looks like it was intensity 3 to 4 in the Los Angeles area, depending on exactly where you were.

QUESTION: From those two again, so the aftershock sequence is not a surprise. It is vigorous but it's in line with what we've seen before. (INAUDIBLE) Maybe not anticipating it but that's also within the ballpark.

JONES: In California, Southern California we would expect to have a magnitude 7 once every 15 or 20 years. The last one was 20 years ago. We would expect to have a 6 every three years or so and the bigger surprise is that we've gone 20 years without a 6.

This is more -- think of this as a return to what California is supposed to be doing rather than really that the last 20 years was the standard. Also, this part of --

[02:10:00]

JONES: -- California, the Owens Valley starting from here up through to Mammoth and getting up towards Reno is characterized by these types of earthquakes. There have been multiple sequences with magnitude 7s and many large earthquakes within the sequences with these large, very active aftershock sequences.

So this is -- this is far from unusual for this area.

DE GROOT(?): And just to point out, to follow along with, excuse me. Excuse me. Just to follow along with what Dr. Jones was saying, in 1876, we had an earthquake just to the north of here --

JONES: 1872.

DE GROOT(?): -- or 1872. Owens Valley earthquake, magnitude estimated at 7.5 to 8. So very large earthquake. Historically, maybe about 50 miles north of where this activity is occurring. So it's not in the historical record, this level of activity not unprecedented.

JONES: OK. When we talk about these probabilities of earthquakes, 5 percent is the generic number. That's on average over the whole area.

The ability to have -- what you're going to be triggering, if we're seeing a lot of aftershocks, the numbers go up a bit just because when you have a lot of earthquakes, you tend to have a lot of earthquakes.

This is an active sequence. Therefore, the chance of an aftershock that's bigger than the main shock goes up with the overall number. So this is probably, you know, this was a 7.1. A 7.0 would technically still be an aftershock. And when we give you that 1:10 number, it doesn't include that possibility as well.

DE GROOT(?): Anyway, I apologize. I cut you off.

QUESTION: No, that was it.

QUESTION: Can you give a more specific locator of where that is?

DE GROOT(?): I apologize. I don't have a georeference on that. It is southwest of Trona along Highway 178. And I have received word that Caltrans has closed the highway. Obviously, they need to do repairs. So this is between Ridgecrest and Trona along Highway 178.

QUESTION: How close would it be -- JONES: So as far as we can tell, we just have -- we got a message.

This is just a text message from a geologist in the U.S. Geological Survey.

And he said southwest of Trona on Highway 178 -- Rob is marking Highway 178. And because we have that fault structure, we also can see its right lateral motion. So we're pretty sure it's on the northwest fault, not on the southwest trending fault. The southwest trending fault is left lateral.

QUESTION: Can you read the description of (INAUDIBLE) what does that look like?

JONES: They're going out. They will take pictures and share them with us. And then they document at this particular location and they measured it. This is about 30 centimeters of slip, which is about 1 foot. Total offset along this.

And that's one of the important pieces that will be put together, is what's the offset as a function going down the fault.

DE GROOT(?): And they actually have very sophisticated equipment where they can -- OK, 4.5 -- where they can actually measure in great detail. They take optical images or radar images of these structure and then they can actually digitize that and get a very precise, three-dimensional view of what the deformation was like.

So there is going to be a wealth of data that will be able to look at and get a very detailed picture of what the rupture was.

QUESTION: What would your questions be about this?

DE GROOT(?): My questions?

Oh, wow.

QUESTION: What would you like to learn from this?

DE GROOT(?): So there's actually a number of questions in terms of the ground motions that are radiated from faults as faults break to the surface like this. There is actually indications that the ground motions are lower than they might be expected from ruptures that are buried.

If you remember Dr. Jones talking about the Northridge earthquake, that was a buried fault. And it was very energetic; even though the magnitude was 6.7, it was incredibly strong shaking. This earthquake, it's going to be interesting to see. It's a 7.1 but the ground shaking, at least in the very preliminary indications for this magnitude, the ground shaking may be a little lower than is typical.

I'll also note that, for the 6.4 that we had yesterday, that's also the case. It looks like it broke up to the surface and the ground motions were a little bit lower than what might be expected for the average 6.4 earthquake. But those are just preliminary assessments. But that's very important if we can understand that and then be able --

[02:15:00]

DE GROOT(?): -- to better forecast what might happen in the next earthquake.

JONES: And there is the other unusual point. It looks like at least on the 6.4, the rupture moved down the fault a little more slowly than average. And maybe that contributes to the lower ground motions rather than breaking through. So we don't know yet for the 7.1 how fast it ruptured down the fault.

And that will help us, I think, address some of those pictures. If we're lucky, we'll have a different rupture propagation speed between the two events and then we can compare how the ground motions look.

QUESTION: If you were standing right there, would it appear to be opening up right away or would you actually see it move?

JONES: We think you see it move.

DE GROOT(?): Yes. And there is actually kind of two different or two comparable things that happen. One is the rupture, which starts at the hypocenter and goes out across the fault. And it's going very fast.

JONES: Two miles a second.

DE GROOT(?): If you were standing right next to the fault, you would see something that went from that horizon, zoom, over to the other horizon.

The second thing that's happening is that the fault is actually moving side to side. So that rupture would go along. That's like a zipper. And then the fault would be going a couple feet, maybe three feet per second, sliding by. So you would see a zip.

And then the two sides of the fault, you could actually see slide by. It may take two or three seconds for that to happen.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last question.

QUESTION: Have you --

QUESTION: What?

QUESTION: Big enough for a person to fall into?

DE GROOT(?): No, no, it's not opening up.

JONES: If a fault can open up, you will not have an earthquake. You slip on the fault and produce shaking, just like snapping your fingers. It makes the air vibrate. Try making snapping your fingers with it opened up. You don't make any waves. If the fault opened, there would be no waves coming off of it. DE GROOT(?): There are a couple of reports where people have actually witnessed the fault move. Very dramatic. Obviously, very strong shaking, too. You're going to be having difficulty standing up and so forth. Anyway.

So last question?

QUESTION: Can you give an estimate of the likelihood of another quake above a 7?

Do you also have an estimate of another quake happening that's greater than this 7.1?

JONES: That's just a few percent lower. Greater than 7 includes everything that's bigger. It's on the order of 8 percent or 9 percent.

QUESTION: So the people of Ridgecrest are going to be feeling this for some time. But people down here are going to be feeling some sizable aftershocks.

JONES: There is the potential. All the ones that are definitely above 5, the 5.1s, the 5.2s, the 5.3s, they seem to be felt if you're sitting quietly in Los Angeles. And we're pretty certain we're going to have more of that size somewhere over the next few days.

QUESTION: You said the 6.4 and its aftershocks were on a southwestern type of motion. These are going northwestern. Would you expect the rest of the aftershocks to be in the northwestern direction?

JONES: They'll be on both structures, probably.

QUESTION: You won't be back here tomorrow morning?

JONES: Not me.

(LAUGHTER)

DE GROOT(?): OK.

Thank you.

JONES: I believe -- somebody will be here.

QUESTION: 11 o'clock?

DE GROOT(?): 11 o'clock tomorrow.

QUESTION: Thank you.

DE GROOT(?): All right. Thanks, everyone.

VANIER: All right. You've been listening to officials from the USGS, the U.S. Geological Survey. They're giving us regular updates.

Captain Jeremy Kern is with us, captain of the San Bernardino County Fire Department. He is on the line.

Your county, Captain, is adjacent to Ridgecrest, just next to the epicenter.

So what's the situation?

CAPT. JEREMY KERN, SAN BERNARDINO FIRE DEPARTMENT: Correct. So at this point, as you guys know, we did have that additional quake. Immediately at that point, our firefighters in the region started doing area checks and just doing initial primary damage surveys within our community.

We were getting a report that there was an increase in the damage in the community compared to the previous quake from yesterday. We started deploying resources out to the region. That included, again, like we did prior, our heavy rescue, our urban search and rescue, our specially trained firefighters who equipped and trained to go in there and assess those buildings for safety.

If there is a potential trapped victim, they have specialized equipment to go and search for cameras and then enter those buildings safely to effect any rescues.

We've also been dealing with water supply issues within the community over the last 24 hours or so, just due to water line breaks and shortages. So we've moved water (INAUDIBLE) up in that region in case there are any potential issues with fires or need in that way.

VANIER: So if I go down the list, number one, are your helicopters still flying?

[02:20:00]

KERN: Can you repeat that?

VANIER: Well, if I go down the list of priorities that you're dealing with, you said your helicopters are flying over the region. I assume that means they're looking for any fires, any signs of fire trouble.

Is that still the case?

Are your helicopters still up in the air?

KERN: At this point, we're doing a ground survey and search with our firefighters in the area. It's a smaller community, about 2,000 residents. We do have local manufacturing facilities there. So they're making contact with onsite safety and the manufacturing facilities themselves to make sure all those chemicals and everything within that facility is secure.

But we're doing a ground survey. At this point, since it is night, it is slowing our efforts a little bit. As soon as first light comes in, we'll get a better idea of what we're seeing. We're getting reports of gas leaks, smell of natural gas.

We're also getting reports of additional damage to structures, cinder block walls and unconfirmed reports of buildings that potentially have collapsed. We have no injuries that require transport at this point.

Our firefighters are treating in the field but nobody has been transported by ambulance. It's minor bumps and bruises, some scrapes and cuts with broken glass from within the homes.

VANIER: You say the buildings -- unconfirmed reports of buildings that have collapsed. So at this stage, we don't know.

You've heard noises but you haven't been able to confirm them, right?

KERN: Correct. And as our firefighters would enter the region, they're just going to do a methodical search, start assessing the structures. As the reports come in, when people do phone in the 9-1-1 calls, whether there's immediate hazards of collapse or any significant damage and any potential issues with power lines or gas, they did lose power in the area as well.

So that's something that is going to be affecting and hampering our efforts.

VANIER: You say you also have teams that are able to see if anybody is trapped in any kind of structure and, if that is the case, then obviously try and rescue them.

Do you have any teams that are working on situations like that right now?

Is that the case?

KERN: So at this point we don't have any active rescues that are working within the community. Our county EOC has upgraded to a level 2 activation. We're starting to get resources and different agencies together, liaison officers with the National Guard, for any potential mission requests that we have within that community out there.

We also are going to be looking at any needs or potential requests within our neighboring agency or Kern County and Ridgecrest. But at this point, our personnel are heading out to the region. They just started arriving. And we will be working on those estimates and start releasing information as it becomes available and it is confirmed.

VANIER: You mentioned water supplies.

Are there areas, do you have pockets of population that currently really are in trouble on that front, do not have access to water?

I know some of the power lines, I know some of their water lines may have been ruptured.

Is there any pocket of population that currently doesn't have drinking water?

KERN: So at this point, they've been on the boil warning. So anything that they do have, they are advised to boil and go through those procedures. The American Red Cross has been out there in the community since this afternoon, facilitating need. As far as food, water and all those requests, they're going through

the Red Cross. But when it comes to suppression efforts, when the water supply system is not functioning, we have to bring our own water, which is our water tenders and other resources specialized to carry that so we can do our job in case there is a potential fire or explosion related to gas leaks or anything like that.

VANIER: I spoke to Kern County officials. They had no fatalities. I just want to triple check with you.

No fatalities on your side either, right?

KERN: That's correct.

VANIER: Captain, thank you so much for taking the time. We appreciate. We understand that you have a lot on your hand right now. The good news is no fatalities. It sounds like you've got things under control. But thank you very much for your time.

KERN: Thank you.

VANIER: CNN correspondents join us from Southern California with all the latest. We have several teams in Ridgecrest. Let's start with Alex Field.

FIELD: Hi, there, Cyril. Look, because this was an aftershock, there was already an emergency declaration in place that will certainly help to speed the resources to the area that are needed, that will help to get people essentially the services that they could need right now.

You just heard in that interview them touching on the fact it is dark here and the power is out. That will absolutely complicate the effort to make sure everyone is safe and secure, to assess the injuries, to assess the damage.

But I can tell you it's absolutely going to be a long night for the people in this community. We've had dozens of aftershocks since that 7.1 earlier tonight. Certainly that has people on edge.

And don't forget within the last 24 hours, they've been experiencing hundreds and hundreds of these aftershocks. So people are now trying to get a handle on what kind of damage could have been done to their homes tonight, whether or not it's safe to be inside those homes as these aftershocks are projected to continue throughout the night -- Cyril.

VANIER: Alex, tell me about the moment. Because everybody --

[02:25:00]

VANIER: -- that I have spoken to who just experienced that 7.1 tremor, just experienced it differently. And I spoke to you earlier. And for you, it was of the scariest moments that you've experienced.

FIELD: I told you that earlier. I still feel that way, even after some of the shock of it has worn off. And I told you that I've been through some smaller earthquakes before. Certainly we're often out here covering this. You hear from people about what the experience is like.

But it sparked true and honest fear to be under that table with my colleagues, realizing that it was just sort of a split-second thing, that we needed to get to the safest place we could think of in that moment, which was under the table.

And to hear the glasses smashing above your head, to hear the other people, parents and children screaming inside that restaurant, the lights going out. It truly terrified me. It's something that I don't think I fully understood from hearing accounts of other people who had been through things like this until we felt it here ourselves.

And, really, you sort of walk around for a period after that with a little sense of shock, I think. It certainly magnifies every little tremor you feel beneath your feet now -- Cyril.

VANIER: Quickly, Alex, how would you characterize the demeanor, the reaction, the feeling of people in Ridgecrest?

FIELD: When the 7.1 hit, a few minutes before that we had an aftershock that was sizable, enough to get everyone's attention in the restaurant. Certainly when the 7.1 hit, that changed everything. It caused a lot of chaos.

People were -- I think after they had gotten under the tables, realizing they needed to get out quickly after the shock, they were really helping each other out. Everyone was rushing and racing to get out the doors. People were offering each other phones. People were checking each other out to see if anyone had been injured and we saw the same effort in a community nearby.

People going through the streets trying to see if anyone was trapped, who needed help and trying to get neighbors to a safe place.

Look, this is place where they prepare for scenarios like this. They are used to anticipating something like this. They certainly were dealing with hundreds of aftershocks in the last 24 hours. This absolutely changed the tenor around here -- Cyril.

VANIER: Reporting live from the epicenter of the earthquake, Alex Field. We have other teams on the ground. We'll be hearing from them right after this break. Stay with us.

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VANIER: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Cyril Vanier.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services is going to be holding a --

[02:30:00]

VANIER: -- press conference in a little while. In fact they are, so let's just listen in.

All right. They're just testing the audio right now. So we'll be going straight back to them as soon as we get word from them.

Now I want to go to a resident of Ridgecrest, California, and find out how he experienced the tremor.

I'm sorry, sir. I'm going to have to ask you to just give me -- all right, Brent Clark Palmer.

Thank you so much for joining us this evening, Brent.

How was it for you?

How did you experience this moment?

BRENT CLARK PALMER, RIDGECREST RESIDENT: Organizing cleanup efforts. I mean, Ridgecrest is really good about people checking on their neighbors. But some of the civic hubs like the museum and the library needed help reshelving and, you know, getting to a place where they could open again.

I'm president of the charity which supports the library. So I have to get in a plug for the Friends of the Ridgecrest Branch Library. And so we met in the parking lot and we had about 60 volunteers, who helped us put the museum and put the library back together. So that was all day.

And I came home and I was on my bed. I was preparing to relax and a little bit tired. And then it started. And fortunately, because I had put my focus on things outside my own space, everything was still on the ground from the last one. So I knew I would be OK. But I have to say that --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: So you started feeling this.

You were laying in bed?

PALMER: Oh, yes, yes. And I've been feeling them all, I've been waiting to talk to you. The aftershocks never end. Aftershocks are a way of life here now. And even when you don't feel them, your stomach feels a little sick from the ground moving.

VANIER: It's interesting you should mention that. I experienced an earthquake and some significant aftershocks myself, both standing up and laying in bed. And absolutely, it does make you feel a little queasy after a while.

PALMER: A little seasick, yes. Or maybe like you're on a horse and buggy, something like that.

VANIER: So when the big one hit, the 7.1 quake, which is now being called the main event, how did that feel?

PALMER: Well, fortunately, like I say, because I was in a space where it was my bed and everything that had fallen had already fallen, I have to say I didn't -- but this is what I want to say. It's how you feel afterwards.

VANIER: Right.

PALMER: It's well, how, why is this happening to us?

And I'm an optimistic person and I immediately thought, what's my catchphrase for this?

We are unbowed. We are unbowed by what's going on here. And I immediately organized another volunteer meeting for next Monday morning when, hopefully, we'll get some space from the aftershocks and we'll look at once again reshelving in the library and putting things back in the museum.

And now that we have this volunteer group, we have other local institutions interested in utilizing us. The schools are --

(CROSSTALK)

VANIER: Brent, I'll say one thing. I'll say one thing real quick. Your catchphrase that you say, we're unbowed. Having been through an earthquake myself, you're a courageous man because, when the forces of nature are unleashed, it, in my experience, it makes you feel very vulnerable.

PALMER: Well, I had -- you know, I had 20 years with my ex-wife. So I'm fine.

(LAUGHTER)

VANIER: I beg your pardon. We'll move right back on to the earthquake.

PALMER: She was a force of nature, I can tell you that.

But, yes, what I want Ridgecrest people to know is, you know, we'll get through this and I have to say, these big tragedies, you've been through them, you find that you have people express love toward you that you didn't expect. And you find that people want to help. Everybody wants to help.

So it's just creating a space where people can help and making sure that they can heal. And helping gives you meaning for what's happening. When you help other people, it creates a context around the tragedy for the chaos and like you say, what you can't control.

VANIER: And how are the people around you, Brent?

And I just I don't just mean the people in your group. And I appreciate that you're giving it meaning. I've also spoken to people this evening who were terrified. I'm just wondering -- [02:35:00]

VANIER: -- what sense you're getting of how people experienced this?

PALMER: Well, yes, I'm very active in the community as a charity guy. And I do see all those feelings expressed even when there aren't earthquakes. There are people who don't like the way things are going or don't like a certain taco or something.

There is always going to be people who freak out and who are negative. And I'm just not that way.

VANIER: Are you speaking to us from your house?

PALMER: I am.

VANIER: Do you intend to stay there tonight?

You going to sleep in your house?

Do you feel safe?

PALMER: I am. Like I say, I -- for me, this earthquake is defined for me not by buildings falling over but by every building in town being shaken like a cookie box and everything that can fall off the shelves has fallen off the shelves.

VANIER: We're seeing pictures of a pool shaking in a way you wouldn't expect. I'm hearing voices behind you.

PALMER: But if a earthquake could have a personality, that would be it. So in my space, I haven't put anything back. So I'm not worried about something falling on me.

VANIER: To be honest, if I listen to the USGS and what they've been telling us, there are going to be so many aftershocks. You're feeling them, that it's not worth putting things back on shelves right now.

I'm hearing voices.

Are there children?

PALMER: No. I don't know where that's come from, it might be just my cell phone.

VANIER: It might also be the video that we're playing.

So you're not taking -- you're not putting anything back on shelves yet.

(CROSSTALK)

PALMER: No. And we're delaying cleanup efforts for a few days.

VANIER: Sure, sure.

Did you have power?

Do you still have power?

PALMER: Yes. I have a friend who was in the fires in Los Angeles and in the one neighborhood fire, where it ate up house after house. And his was skipped. And I don't know that I'm experiencing the kind of luck that he had but I have cell phone, I have Internet. I have water and whatever the other ones are.

VANIER: You have everything. Look, you're one of the lucky ones. We've been speaking to authorities of Kern County and they were telling me that almost 1,400 people were without power. And so it just depends where you are in the city.

We have teams that are near the hospital, where they don't have power. So it just depends. But I also spoke to residents who sit slightly above Ridgecrest and they're fine. They were basically bystanders to the whole thing. So it just depends where you are. Some people got lucky. Others didn't.

PALMER: Yes.

VANIER: So tomorrow is the weekend. People weren't going to go to work, most people anyway.

What do you expect things to be like tomorrow?

PALMER: So you understand, I'm very active with the library. We were going the open tomorrow. We had everything pristine and perfect. The staff were amazing and now we won't open tomorrow.

VANIER: Sure.

PALMER: It's not going to open tomorrow. And I'm sure that's true a lot of places. And it is, even for a person like me, who tries to stay positive, it's very discouraging.

VANIER: And, Brent, just tell me this. And I know you have been cool as a cucumber during the whole thing but are you afraid of an bigger earthquake or as big as the one you just felt in the coming days?

PALMER: I do consider that might happen, sure.

VANIER: OK.

PALMER: As far as my feelings go, I never know my feelings until 10 years later.

(LAUGHTER)

VANIER: Brent, thank you so much. You're going through all of this with a smile on your face and that's great. Thanks for your time. Thanks for your attitude in all of this and thanks for your account of what happened to you this evening. Brent Clark Palmer, a resident of Ridgecrest, thanks. I want to go back to our meteorologist Karen Maginnis. She joins us

from the CNN Weather Center. She is pulling together all the information we have on this -- Karen.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. As we heard in the briefing from CalTech, there is about a 10 percent likelihood we could see an earthquake of 7-plus magnitude. Before, when it was a 6.4 magnitude earthquake, there was about a 5 percent chance. So we have more than doubled the chances.

We could see another strong or significant earthquake. Chances are seeing a 6-plus aftershock is better than a 60 percent chance. And almost certain we will see a 5 magnitude earthquake take place. Those are the typical aftershocks. Will probably occur for a couple of years. All right. I showed this yesterday. Here is Los Angeles.

[02:40:00]

MAGINNIS: There is Bakersfield. San Bernardino is down here. They're saying that they have seen significantly more damage that has occurred. But all of these lines are the different fault lines. We're going to zoom in across Ridgecrest, there are intersecting fault zones, that strike slip zone.

So you will see the displacement. You may already have seen images of streets where there is a little displacement. And even as it rippled out. And that's why we're feeling that energy that kind of radiates towards Los Angeles.

By the way, the Los Angeles Fire Department says they've checked the infrastructure on the ground and in the air and they're saying they are good now. Different story San Bernardino, which is about 120 miles to the south of Ridgecrest.

So now we have our 7.1 magnitude earthquake. It's been 20 years since we've seen anything like this. A 7 magnitude earthquake is the equivalent of about 200,000 tons of TNT. And you go to an 8 magnitude earthquake and then we're doing just many multiples of that.

All right. Here is our seismic activity that has taken place other the last several days. Here is Ridgecrest. And you go in this direction you head towards China Lake. That's where the Naval Weapons Station is located. So you can better believe they are very focused on what if any damage may have taken place there.

All right, estimated fatalities, we don't have any reports of any fatalities. The computers are saying a 65 percent chance that you might have one fatality.

Injuries?

Yes. We've heard about injuries, the extent of which we don't know. OK. Here is the shake map. Here is Ridgecrest. About the 30,000 people felt very strong shaking, as you can imagine. You radiate from that, the energy. This is in the turquoise shaded area. Light to moderate shaking. In the L.A. area, about 21 million people felt that. You know they did.

We hear Sara Sidner say she felt it. We've seen pictures from the basketball games where people felt it. Restaurants, small markets. People could tell that something was going on here. They said it felt like a long time.

We heard from the USGS that it was about 20 to 25 seconds. The foreshock, the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that took place yesterday or two days ago, that lasted five seconds. But people in Los Angeles will tell you it shook for 30 seconds. The earthquake was five seconds. The reason it felt like 30 seconds is that energy that gets transferred here is actually bouncing off of different types of material in the form of granite, mountainous material, just a variety of different substrates here that reverberate around. And that's why it can't stop immediately. It just slowly winds down.

That's why it's not a 5-second event for Los Angeles. The people in Los Angeles say this felt like a long time. It actually was a 5- second earthquake but the energy from that just kind of radiates out. It feels less but it's still nonetheless significant.

All right. As we mentioned before, 10 percent chance. It doesn't sound like anything significant. But yesterday it was 5 percent. But yesterday it was 5 percent. I need to send it back to you, Cyril.

VANIER: All right, Karen, thank you very much for that.

I understand the news conference at the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services is now underway. Let's listen in.

MARK GHILARDUCCI, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR'S OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES: OK. You guys about ready to go?

All right. Good evening. Thanks for being here. I'm Mark Ghilarducci, Governor Newsom's director of his Office of Emergency Services. I'm going to give you a quick overview of the situation in Kern County, in the city of Ridgecrest.

As you know, over the last couple of days, there have been a series of earthquakes that have occurred in the Ridgecrest area, specifically around China Lake Naval Station.

Tonight around 8:20, there was a second, very large quake, magnitude 7.1. The quake did last for some time. It was felt widely through most of Southern California and even as far north here as Sacramento. The shaking intensity was very significant.

[02:45:00]

GHILARDUCCI: Looking at our algorithms run through what we call our hazard analysis algorithm, the shaking intensity was at its highest level in and around China Lake and just adjacent to the town of Ridgecrest.

We have significant reports of fires, structure fires, mostly as a result of gas leaks or gas line breaks. There are gas line breaks throughout the city. There are also reports of water main breaks. Power is out and communications is out to parts of the community, as well south of Ridgecrest and in San Bernardino County, the town of Trona, a small community of about 2,000.

There are reports of also some building collapse and power outages and some gas leaks there as well.

We'll give you briefings from the various agencies that are represented behind me to talk about conditions on our roads and some of the other impacts. Here at the state operations center, we are fully activated at the highest level.

Earlier tonight, Governor Newsom did talk to the White House and requested a presidential emergency declaration to support our operations here in the state and provide federal assets and what we call direct federal assistance in support of all of the mutual aid assets that we are currently providing to mostly Kern County and some to San Bernardino County.

Governor Newsom activated the state operations center at its highest level tonight and provided right now a significant amount of fire and rescue mutual aid from the Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Fresno County areas, to include urban search and rescue teams, fire strike teams, firefighters, hazardous materials response units, emergency medical services, ambulance strike teams and personnel.

In fact, roughly over 100 mutual aid personnel have been dispatched in support of these various fires and the support of the -- both Trona and the town of Ridgecrest.

It's important to note that Ridgecrest and Trona are both very remotely located on the eastern side of the Sierra. And the roads have been impacted. And getting resources into the area continues to be a challenge.

It is with a little bit of a benefit that, you know, just two days ago, there was a 6.4 earthquake that occurred there and we had a number of resources already deployed in the area in support of Kern County. We were able to then turn those resources around.

They've just been released shortly before the 7.1 and allowed us to have a pretty significant amount of resources available almost immediately.

We have been in contact with both the mayor of the city of Ridgecrest. Both myself and Governor Newsom have talked to the mayor, talked to the police chief talked to the Kern County fire chief and San Bernardino County and are coordinating here at the state operations center with all the state agencies as well as those county departments to ensure that any resources that they need are being provided.

Huge priorities right now for medical support and for firefighting and for emergency power. We have been in contact with private sector utilities, both the water department, our gas and electrical utility providers, to ensure that they have enough resources to try to get water and power up and restored as fast as possible. The quake happened at roughly around 8:20 tonight. And so it got dark

pretty fast. And situational awareness is sketchy because the power is out and there is not a lot of lighting. We know that, as the day breaks, we'll be able to get a better assessment of the total amount of damage.

And throughout the night tonight, though, we are working to move assets and resources in place or into staging areas so that we can have those resources immediately available in the morning in those communities as necessary.

[02:50:00]

GHILARDUCCI: So with that, I'm going to turn it over to several speakers behind me. They're going to brief on what their agencies and departments are working on. And then I'll come back and answer any questions you may have. So I'm going to first turn it over to deputy commissioner of the Highway Patrol, Scott Silsbee.

SCOTT SILSBEE, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF THE HIGHWAY PATROL: Good evening. I'll be really brief. Just as a reminder, it's a really remote area. The good news is, it being the holiday weekend, all law enforcement and EMS had ramped up and had extra resources available.

As far as CHP responsibilities, quite a few of us are out there handling the road closures with Caltrans. And from there, our folks peel off and go check the structural integrity of overpasses and roadways with Caltrans.

So far other than what Director Ken (ph) is going to tell you, we're hearing pretty good news. From there, their secondary mission is to assist local law enforcement. Right now, I'm hearing that the calls for service have dropped significantly and most of the calls are being covered well.

As the director said, when daylight comes, we do have aircraft up too. We couldn't see a whole lot. When daylight comes we'll have a much better idea what's needed. But the good news is the resources there are handling the situation well and there is more resources going in the morning. I'll be ready for any questions if you have any.

Next I'm going to turn it over to Major General David Baldwin of the California National Guard.

MAJ. GEN. DAVID S. BALDWIN, CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD: Thanks, Commissioner.

California Military Department is mobilizing and deploying a joint task force to the impacted area that will include about 200 security forces, sustainment troops, which are logical support and aviation assets, including helicopters from the Army National Guard and cargo aircraft from California's Air National Guard.

We have also alerted the remainder of the California Military Department so all the California Army National Guard, the Air National Guard and our California State Guard in the event additional resources are needed.

I've spoken with officials from the Pentagon. If we need any help from out of state that help will be on its way. I'll be followed by Chief Thom Porter from Cal Fire.

THOM PORTER, CAL FIRE: Cal Fire is prepared to respond with any of the state's resources that we have and that might be needed for this. As of now, we see that fire potential is pretty low for this weekend or moderate.

And so we'll be able to use some of those resources from California's fire department to meet any needs that are unmet.

Also, our office of the state fire marshal is working with the liquid pipe and fuel providers to ensure that their pipelines are safety through our pipeline safety program. I will be followed by David Kim, Secretary of Transportation Agency.

DAVID KIM, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION AGENCY: Thank you very much. I'd like to update you on the status of three roadways. The first is State Route 178. There is significant damage on 178 as a result of a rockslide across both lanes near Lake Isabella.

There are also severe cracks in the roadway just outside the township of Trona. And this is very close to the location where cracks were discovered as a result of yesterday's event, which were repaired quickly, within a few hours by Caltrans maintenance groups.

There is a full closure of State Route 178 in two different locations, from the San Bernardino-Kern County line to 14.7 miles east of the San Bernardino-Kern County line; there is an additional full closure at 4.1 miles east of the junction. That's State Route 184 and Kern Canyon due to the rockslide.

The cracks on 178 will be filled by Caltrans maintenance crews with cold mix asphalt. A couple of other routes that were impacted were State Route 127 and State Route 190. There were rockslides on both routes tonight. They have both been cleared and both route roads are now open. I'll be followed by Health and Human Services.

MARK GOMICHE (PH), DEPUTY SECRETARY, CALIFORNIA HHSA: Good evening, Mark Gomiche (ph), deputy secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency. We have fully activated and have deployed resources both at the Emergency Medical Services Authority of the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Social Services.

We're in close contact with all of the health care facilities in the region and have been in communication with them to make sure they have resources --

[02:55:00]

GOMICHE (PH): -- they need to take care of the patients that they have in those facilities. And we also are working with the sheltering task force here within the state operations center through our department of social services. Thank you.

VANIER: All right. You've been listening to the emergency officials out of the governor's office in California. I now want to go and listen to emergency officials speaking out of Bakersfield, who are continuing to give us the assessment on the 7.1 magnitude quake we felt on Friday.

JED MCLAUGHLIN, RIDGECREST POLICE CHIEF: Good evening and thank you for coming. And most of you, welcome back. At 8:19 this evening, the city of Ridgecrest sustained what is being reported as a 7.1 magnitude earthquake.

As we know, on July 4th, we had a 6.4 earthquake followed by several hundred aftershocks, of which the 5.4 being the largest. Following the 7.1, we had two reported structure fires. Kern County Fire Department did an awesome job, got those under control and extinguished.

And then there were several reports of gas, natural gas leaks at residences. In fact, we were inundated with that. So Kern County fire, law enforcement officers and homeowners responded and shut those off as we could.

And then PG&E, as they responded, fixed any leaks to the main lines in town. So those are all repaired and up and running. And now their focus is on repairing the residential gas lines.

Our water system is intact and operational and was never breached and no contamination, so water is good to go. Right now we are in a mode to where we are still answering emergency calls. And as it slows down, we will transition into other life-saving measures if needed.

And currently the hospital is sheltered in place as a precautionary measure because of the structure until they get it looked at. Anything further on that, I would direct you to the hospital for those questions. Injuries reported, nothing but minor injuries such as cuts and bruises, that's by the grace of God. So other than that, I will turn it over to the fire chief. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Thank you very much, Chief McLaughlin. As I did not mention it before, we'll go one at a time through each representative and we'll hold our questions until the end.

Afterwards, we'll handle some of the questions and then we'll be available for individual breakouts as well. Let us now go ahead and give our attention to Kern County Fire Department, battalion chief D. Mitchell.

BATTALION CHIEF DIONISIO MITCHELL, KERN COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good evening, Dionisio Mitchell, Kern County fire battalion chief on unified command with Ridgecrest police department chief.

The Ridgecrest incident almost immediately following the earthquake we started to receive a numerous amount of calls for utilities issues and also we had a confirmed working structure fire at that point. We started a response initially, quickly toward the desert area, as we

did start to receive multiple, multiple calls at that point. Around that time, our command staff also started setting up BOC (ph) again and started getting resources set up to respond.

We do have a lot of mutual aid being put in together right now to come out here. It's not just us but initially Battalion 7 resources were pulled out to the desert to address those issues that we had, first being that structure fire with multiple reports of gas leaks, smells of gas in the area and electrical issues.

Following that, knocked down a fire. We had a second report of a structure fire and cut resources loose to address that as well. During those operations, we simultaneously had an aerial recon done on the city of Ridgecrest. The helicopter (INAUDIBLE) provided that one along with Air 1 from the sheriff's office.

They did not report any significant structural damage from the air but that's from the air. As soon as we start --

[03:00:00]