<span style="color: #222222;">In the United States, Southern California was rattled by its largest earthquake in two decades last evening, a 7.1-magnitude tremor that shook buildings and cut power supplies in parts of Los Angeles but did not cause major damage or deaths. <br />'' <br />'' Seismologists said, the shallow quake struck near the small city of Ridgecrest at 8:19 pm local time and followed a 6.4-magnitude quake that hit the same area the day before.<br />'' <br />'' According to the United States Geological Survey, the latest quake was 11 times stronger than the previous day's "foreshock",  and is part of what seismologists are calling an "earthquake sequence".<br />'' <br />'' The tremor was felt more than 150 miles away in Los Angeles, where the fire department deployed vehicles and helicopters to check on damage and residents in need of emergency aid.<br />'' <br />''According to Los Angeles Times, the earthquake was the largest in southern California since 1999 when a 7.1-magnitude quake struck the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base.Los Angeles Fire Department tweeted that no major damage to infrastructure has been identified. <br />'' <br />''The spokesman of the department Brian Humphrey said in a statement that there has been no loss of life or serious injury that we can directly attribute to the widely felt earthquake.</span><br />