Twin Quakes: 6.5 In Nevada Followed By 5.2 In California, Within 30 Seconds

TWIN QUAKES Mina Nevada earthquake: State hit by powerful 6.5 magnitude quake just 30 seconds before California shaken by 5.2 tremor

• Patrick Knox

AN earthquake rocked a secret military base in California just 30 seconds after a quake shook Nevada.

The first magnitude 6.5 one happened near Mina, Nevada, at 1.13am local time.

The second magnitude 5.2 quake happened about 125 miles to the south, near Ridgecrest, California, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports.

It was not far from Death valley National Park and very near the top-secret Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, a sprawling base with more than 1.1 million acres of land which is understood to contain a deep underground base. 

The USGS earlier reported the Nevada quake as 5.5 magnitude, but later revised it up to 6.5.

The epicentre was about 20.5 miles southeast of Mina, at a depth of 3.9 miles.

A spokesman for USGS told CNN the earthquake was "widely felt" and in an area has a "streak of not having big earthquakes for 66 years."

The US Geological Survey reported five aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 4.4, all within a half-hour time frame.