Southern California rattled by largest quake to hit in decades

A person looks at a seismograph.
(Image credit: Christian Miranda/AFP/Getty Images)

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck a remote area of Southern California on Thursday morning, rattling the entire region.

The quake was centered in the Searles Valley, about 125 miles from Los Angeles. It was felt across Southern California and as far away as Las Vegas. There have been no reports of any injuries, but people near the epicenter said they had items fall off shelves and Kern County Fire tweeted that it is dealing with structure fires "in and around the city of Ridgecrest."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.