UPDATE: Officials: No known casualties, search for house in Ridgecrest underway after 7.1 earthquake

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(UPDATE) 8:37 AM – House-to-house inspections are underway in the Ridgecrest area but no deaths or major injuries have been reported, the Kern County Fire Department said on Saturday.

At a press conference at 8:35, David Witt, Kern County Fire Chief, said that "the mutual aid system works", as crews descend to the most affected areas, Ridgecrest and Trona.

Witt says the inspectors are gathering information in the field, but that there is no major collapse of the building nor any trapped person they are currently aware of. . There were minor injuries, house damage, roadway cracks and broken gas lines, but no major gas line was broken.

Witt did not make any updates on the number of houses burned after the earthquake.

Ridgecrest has regained almost all of its power, but cleaning is just beginning 12 hours after the most powerful earthquake in 20 years.

Officials are not reporting any problems at the Isabella Lake Dam, but a more in-depth evaluation will be completed today.

Highway 178 is open, but Witt cautioned travelers to avoid the canyon.

Another press conference is scheduled around 10:30 am at Ridgecrest.

(UPDATE) 0742 – As daylight has improved, the plan for additional assessments of the damage caused by the largest earthquake in California in 20 years is underway.

According to Cal OES, the emergency center remains open 24 hours a day. Officials plan to provide an update when new information is checked.

(Original story) 7:16 am – The largest earthquake in southern California for nearly 20 years has rocked a vast area from Sacramento to Mexico, cracking buildings, burning buildings, destroying roads but causing minor injuries.

The magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit at 8:19 pm. On Friday, it was centered 18 km from Ridgecrest, the same area of ​​the Mojave Desert where a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck just one day earlier.

Several thousand people in Ridgecrest were without power on Friday night, and it was reported that buildings were cracked, houses were not in the foundations, and fires were largely due to gas leaks or fire. line breaks.

In the light of the day Saturday, new assessments will take place in the hardest hit areas.

Although officials did not provide details on the number of casualties, Ridgecrest Police Chief Jed McLaughlin said all had been minors. An on-site shelter order was issued in a neighborhood hospital as a precautionary measure, he said.

Also as a precaution, some hospitalized patients still tied to an intravenous infusion were discharged from Ridgecrest Hospital and returned to the hospital. The hospital remained on standby power as many residents of Ridgecrest were left in the dark.

Damage to local roads was assessed even though a landslide closed a national road in Kern County. It was erased and reopened a few hours later.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has sought additional support from officials in Washington, DC.

"Earlier in the evening, I officially asked for an emergency presidential statement in case of direct assistance from the federal government to further support emergency response and recovery of affected communities. ", He said in a statement Friday evening.

California's Emergency Services Office (Cal OES) has activated its state operations center following Friday's 7.1 earthquake in Ridgecrest.

Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governor's emergency services office, said Saturday morning that a number of fires had been reported as a result of gas leaks and pipeline breaks.

In the city of Trona, a community of about 2,000 inhabitants located about 25 km northeast of Ridgecrest, a building collapse, power outages and gas leaks were reported, said Ghilarducci.

Seismologists have warned that large aftershocks should last several days or even weeks.

Residents of the central coast said they felt the shock, but fire officials in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties reported no damage or injury in that community.

A man from Guadalupe was visiting Ridgecrest when the earthquake occurred. His story here.

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