Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake was closed Friday as officials assessed infrastructure damage caused by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook southern California.
According to the U.S. Navy, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California (approximately 150 miles north of Los Angeles) was closed Friday as officials assessed infrastructure damage caused by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook southern California on Thursday.
No casualties or injuries were reported, and all buildings are intact and standing, though officials continue to assess the 1.2 million acres of the base for structural damage, according to the information posted to the base’s Facebook page. The base is located 150 miles north of Los Angeles and just northwest of Ridgecrest, the epicenter of the earthquake.
https://www.facebook.com/NAWSChinaLake/posts/2817387548288035
“The United States Geological Survey has confirmed that the epicenter of the series of recent, local quakes was on two faults that are located aboard Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake,” stated a post on the base’s Facebook page. “There is currently a team from [the U.S. Geological Survey] and California Geological Survey on the installation studying the event.”
The only authorized access to NAWS China Lake continues to be Mission Essential Personnel (as identified in the MEP program) and Installation housing residents and this restriction will continue through 5 a.m. Monday, July 8.
Mission Essential personnel should continue to use caution when accessing buildings.
China Lake is the United States Navy’s largest single landholding, representing 85% of the Navy’s land for weapons and armaments research, development, acquisition, testing and evaluation use and 38% of the Navy’s land holdings worldwide. In total, its two ranges and main site cover more than 1,100,000 acres, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island. The roughly $3 billion infrastructure of the installation consists of 2,132 buildings and facilities, 329 miles of paved roads, and 1,801 miles of unpaved roads.
A 6.4-magnitude quake struck on Thursday near the town of Ridgecrest, a community of about 29,000 residents west of the Mojave Desert. A day later, another, more powerful quake of 7.1 magnitude struck the same region, causing destruction, gas leaks and power and communications failures. Meanwhile, US media report citing seismologists from CalTech that more earthquakes are possible, as previous ones might be a part of an ongoing sequence.
