California governor assures long term help to quake victims

The powerful magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked the Mojave Desert town of Ridgecrest south of Death Valley National Park on Friday, jolting the area with eight times more force than a 6.4 quake that struck the same area 34 hours earlier. California Governor told a news conference in Ridgecrest on Saturday that he had just got off a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking a presidential emergency declaration.

CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR, GAVIN NEWSOM said We don't agree on everything but one area where there's no politics, where we've worked extraordinarily well together is on emergency response recovery and increasing our emergency preparedness. And this is consistent with that relationship and I want to thank the president for his outreach."

Violent shaking also caused water-main breaks and knocked out power and communications to parts of Ridgecrest, home to about 27,000 people some 125 miles northeast of Los Angeles. Officials warned there was sure to be a significant number of aftershocks, including possible powerful ones.