> The quake caused further damage to a U.S. weapons testing facility outside Ridgecrest, the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, although details were sparse early Saturday. “NAWS China Lake is not mission capable until further notice; however, security protocols remain in effect,” the naval base said on its Facebook page after the latest temblor. The installation is the Navy’s largest single landholding, sprawling over 1.1 million acres, an area larger than Rhode Island.
Presumably the federal government is taking care of China Lake and doesn't want anyone to know about it. I don't see why they would invite the press onto a classified weapons research facility just to catalog earthquake damage. When you're a wealthy landowner housing thousands of explosive munitions in an active fault zone, presumably you build it to withstand earthquakes.
But yes, AFAICT from the maps, the epicenter was basically right under China Lake.
