Man reaches into fissure after earthquakes split the ground in Ridgecrest

KGO logo
Friday, July 12, 2019
Ridgecrest man reaches into fissure following earthquakes
A Ridgecrest man assessing the damage after two powerful earthquakes rocked the region used a giant stick to show the depth of a massive fissure.

RIDGECREST, Calif. -- A Ridgecrest man assessing the damage in Kern County after two powerful earthquakes rocked the region used a giant stick to show the depth of a massive fissure.

Erik Catlin shared video on Facebook on July 8.

It shows him reaching into the crack with a long piece of wood to see if he could touch the bottom, but it was way too deep.

"So here's the deepest fissure I found today. It was deeper than I am tall. Wasn't about to try and test it though," Catlin posted on Facebook.

Aftershocks continue to rattle the Ridgecrest area after a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit July 4 before a much larger 7.1 quake struck July 5, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.