Video Shows Violent Earthquake in Motion at Southern California Restaurants

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Southern California on July 4, but a second, more intense 7.1 quake hit the same fault line in Ridgecrest on July 5. There’s video that captured the temblor at a Ridgecrest restaurant and on the top floor restaurant of Morongo Casino, which is called Cielo.

July 4 surveillance footage at the Ridgecrest Pita Fresh on N China Lake Blvd shows two employees as the restaurant begins to shake. One employee secured himself in a doorway to wait out the movement, as another uniformed employee ran through the back of the house as equipment fell to the floor.

On July 5, the CEO of Truepic captured the second quake while dining at Cielo in Morongo Casino. Jeffrey McGregor had enough presence of mind to take out his phone while the entire restaurant swayed back and forth. Cielo is on the 27th floor of the Cabazon casino, about a twenty minute drive away from Palm Springs. Staff closed Cielo right after the quake.

After the ground shakes, there’s the aftermath. CBS News reports that the owner of Ridgecrest’s Casa Corona restaurant shared a personal video where broken plates and bottles littered the restaurant floor after last week’s quake.

Ridgecrest is in Kern County and approximately 100 miles from Los Angeles. While no major damage was reported in LA, the populace felt it from here all the way to Las Vegas. The quake also disrupted a Dodger game, and splashed water out of pools.

• Two large earthquakes rattle LA—but where was the early warning? [Curbed LA]