Earthquake experts in California state that there is a 10 percent possibility of another 7.0 magnitude or greater earthquake hitting the same region in the southern portion of the state that has already been hit by two intense quakes.

Caltech seismologist Lucy Jones advised that there will be a 10 percent possibility of another 7.0 magnitude or greater quake next week following the incident on Friday.

Jones explained to the Los Angeles Times that’ the fault is increasing,’ adding that it is now 25 to 30 miles long.

Southern California has a 27 percent chance of having a third earthquake greater than magnitude 6 over the next week, but a 96 percent chance of having a magnitude 5 or greater tremor.

The Friday magnitude 7.1 earthquake hit about 11 miles from Ridgecrest, the town in Kern County which was very close to the epicenter of the magnitude 6.4 quake felt on Thursday.

Kern County Fire Chief David Witt said during a press conference on Saturday morning that there are no known earthquake deaths but admitted that at this stage little is known about the devastation.

‘We do feel like there is damage, but we don’t know the extent of it yet,’ Witt told reporters. ‘Nobody was trapped, no major collapses that we know of, but we are out there searching.’

Damage evaluation is just now picking up speed he said because ‘it’s hard to gather intel in darkness’.

Shockwaves from Friday’s quake were felt in Las Vegas and downtown Los Angeles as a rolling motion that seemed to last at least a half-minute.

Dr Lucy Jones, a seismologist for the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), said it was the most powerful to hit Southern California since another 7.1 temblor in the same area in 1999.