As the United States began celebrating its Independence Day on July 4, a powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern California at around 10.33 am local time, the Los Angeles Times reported.

No casualties have been reported yet. The epicentre of the earthquake was located in the Searles Valley area, the report added. The city of Ridgecrest was worst hit in the calamity.

The July 4 earthquake was the worst that California has seen in the last 20 years. The region also experienced almost 200 aftershocks through the afternoon, almost ten of them reported to be of magnitude 4 or above on the Richter Scale.

Many broken gas lines and nearly two dozen fire incidents were reported from Ridgecrest on July 4, but it is yet to be ascertained if this was in the aftermath of the earthquake.