LUDLOW, Calif. — A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the Mojave Desert northwest of Twentynine Palms early Saturday, knocking an Amtrak passenger train off its tracks and damaging two highway bridges, but otherwise causing remarkably little harm and no deaths.
Four people on Amtrak's Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles were injured, none seriously, when the temblor--the fourth strongest in Southern California this century--rocked the region at 2:46 a.m. More than 250,000 customers throughout Southern California lost power, but in most cases service was restored almost immediately.
Centered beneath a Marine base, the quake swayed high-rise hotels in Las Vegas and jolted millions of people awake throughout the Southland, stirring unwelcome memories of the 1994 Northridge quake.
Although the Hector Mine earthquake, as it was dubbed by the U.S. Geological Survey, was three times stronger than the 6.7 Northridge quake, it caused only a tiny fraction of the damage because it was centered far from heavily populated areas.
"The damage could have been catastrophic, but was minimal," said Mayor Richard Riordan. "It's a good opportunity, however, for everybody to take note that we live in earthquake country. We can never be too prepared for the next one."
Saturday's earthquake, named after a desert mineral mining site, was the fourth of magnitude 7 or greater recorded across the globe in the past two months. Earthquakes in western Turkey and Taiwan occurred in heavily populated areas and left nearly 20,000 people dead. Twenty people died in the third, a 7.5 temblor that struck a mostly rural region in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The Hector Mine earthquake hit hardest in an area more highly populated by rattlesnakes than people, and most of its energy was spent harmlessly.
But for those nearest the epicenter, it was a terrifying experience.
"Let me put it to you this way," said Juan Tirado, who lives in a trailer in Ludlow, a hamlet of about 40 people along Interstate 40 between Barstow and Needles. "The first thing I tried to do was jump up and get to my daughter--but I couldn't.
"I got as far as her bedroom door but then I couldn't move another step, we were shaking so hard. I was holding on to the walls but couldn't move. It was like I was in a bottle and someone was shaking it back and forth."
