Newer Buildings Show Little Damage After California Quakes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The two Southern California desert communities rocked by last week’s powerful earthquakes may have sustained as little damage as they did because they have no tall buildings and many of the homes in one are fairly new and were built to stricter earthquake standards.

California’s Seismic Safety Commission Chairman Michael Gardner said during the agency’s Thursday meeting that the tallest building he knows of in the Mojave Desert towns of Ridgecrest and Trona is the three-story Ridgecrest hospital.

The region was struck by a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on July 4 , followed by a 7.1 temblor the next day.

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