Second powerful earthquake hits southern California

Fires were ignited, roads were broken and a number of people were injured in the latest tremor, which struck on Friday evening.

Jars and tins were shaken from the shelves during the latest quake in LA (Chad Mayes/AP)

By John Antczak and Brady McCombs, Associated Press

An earthquake with a magnitude as large as 7.1 has jolted much of California, cracking buildings, igniting fires, breaking up roads and causing several injuries.

The quake — preceded by Thursday’s 6.4-magnitude tremor in the Mojave Desert — was the largest southern California earthquake in at least 20 years and was followed by a series of aftershocks, some with a magnitude above 5.0.