[Ana Cabrera, Cnn:] You're live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. We'll begin with a major explosion at a shopping center in South Florida sending at least 20 victims to area hospitals. Right now crews in Plantation, Florida are searching the rubble for anyone who may still be trapped in the debris. This explosion taking place at a strip mall with an L.A. Fitness Center. It was filled with people doing their Saturday workouts, No Fatalities Recorded; Here's the Deputy Fire Chief in Plantation, Florida. Listen to this.
[Joel Gordon; Plantation Fire Department, Battalion Chief:] We did have an active gas leak when we arrived. They were able to secure it. Broward County's hazmat team went in, they secured the gas initially and then TECO was able to secure it from there. Whether that was the cause or not, we have not confirmed.
[Cabrera:] And no confirmed fatalities, but two people do have serious injuries. Police are warning everyone in that area to stay away. I want to get right to CNN's Rosa Flores in Plantation, Florida. Rosa, what are you hearing about these 20 injured victims from this explosion, any updates?
[Rosa Flores, Cnn Correspondent:] No updates from the hospital, Ana. All we know is that two of them in critical condition. From talking to the spokesperson from the area hospital they tell us that one person was transported with Level 1 trauma. That is of the most severe trauma. And another one with level 2 trauma injuries and that is a bit less severe. But I want to show you the scene here, because it really speaks to the magnitude of this explosion. Take a look over my shoulder you'll see the debris field. Now we're about 100 yards from where this explosion happened. And you can see and you're probably familiar with a lot of these strip malls, not just here in Florida, but around the country. So there's a lot of parking spaces around. You can see that the debris is on top of some of these vehicles. You can see corrugated metal. Metal it appears to be from the roof there. There is brick that I can see, there's exposed beams. From walking around, I can tell, you that I saw a lot of insulation. There's also bricks and mats and there's even a jeep that's in the middle of the road that appears to have just stopped there and the driver obviously not in that jeep anymore. So this just gives you an idea of the debris field. Now I'm going to ask our CNN Photojournalist, Jerry Simonson to pan over on and this is going to be a pretty extreme pan over. You're going to see some cameras. But I want to make a point here. Because this shopping center that you're seeing here to our right also sustained damage. I was out walking in this shopping center, trying to talk to some of the business owners. I talked to one woman who owns a salon. The window was broken. And then a police officer approached me said, "Ma'am you should probably not be walking under this awning", because they don't know what the stability of this structure is at this point in time. And now of course you'll see police officers all around this area, crime scene tape as well as they're trying to have as much precaution as possible. But as you can see, Ana, this is a huge crime scene. Now we understand that the ATF Miami office has arson investigators on scene. The gas company has secured the gas lines not just in the buildings that you see behind me, but in the general area because of the potential dangers. So they're trying to investigate and figure out exactly what happened here, Ana. But according to the fire department there a call about the apparent gas explosion at about 11:30 this morning, and as you mentioned, up to 20 people have been transported to the hospital. The good news of course is that no fatalities have been reported. Ana.
[Cabrera:] OK. And at last check it sounds like they do not believe people are still trapped, is that correct Rosa?
[Flores:] That's correct. We know, and you'll see some firefighters behind me. They're just doing their due diligence. They're going through that debris to make sure that nobody is missing. But according to the fire department everybody has been accounted for.
[Cabrera:] OK. Rosa Flores in Plantation, Florida for us, thank you. Now to the West Coast, a major disaster there, this one natural.
[Unidentified Female:] Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. [bleep]
[Cabrera:] An earthquake, a very powerful one, and a second huge quake and a little over 24 hours. It shook all of Southern California as far away as Las Vegas, even into Mexico.
[Unidentified Male:] Keep going out for Let me see let me help you if somebody is hurt. All right.
[Cabrera:] Hit late last night, the City of Ridgecrest right in the middle of the most violent shaking and while people there were still cleaning up from a massive earthquake just a day earlier. The latest quake with 11 times stronger than the earthquake the day before. People terrified in their homes couldn't even stay on their feet.
[Jaye Krona, Lives In Ridgecrest, California:] It was just I couldn't you had we had to sit down or crawl on hands and knees to get around, because you couldn't stand up and be in an upright position without falling over.
[Cabrera:] Now here's the amazing news. After these two enormous quakes and aftershocks happening every minute, gas fires and building collapses and downed power lines, officials say so far nobody has died. Live now to Ridgecrest, California. That's about halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and CNN's Alexandra Field is there. Alexandra you were actually there when this second much more powerful earthquake struck. Tell us what that was like.
[Alexandra Field, Cnn Correspondent:] Violent is absolutely the only word that I can use to describe the experience of feeling that bouncing, that jumping, hearing the rattling, hearing the sound of glass smashing. We were in this very popular Mexican restaurant in town. It was pretty packed. It was Friday night, dinner hour, you had about 100 or 150 people who had come in. You can see their food's left on the table. That's where a server dropped the tray. This chair that is turned over. All of a sudden though you start to hear that unmistakable noise. You can feel what is coming. You can start to see some of the aftermath of it right now. I think I'll always remember the sound of the glass shattering. And then really it was chaos in here, Ana, people either trying to get under the tables to get some cover or just bolting for the door. This is a place that people had come after a long and a difficult day in Ridgecrest. They were prepared for the fact that they would have hundreds of aftershocks. They weren't prepared for anything this big. I want to introduce you to my friend here Jason Corona. Jason you are the owner of the restaurant along with your father. This is a family business. You, as we've been talking all morning, have told me that you're a veteran of earthquakes. But for me this was a heart stopping experience. Tell me how this felt for you. 7.1?
[Jason Corona, Restaurant Owner:] Well, we we're definitely used earthquakes here. And like you experienced the first one that it was a lot smaller one and you saw everybody kind of you know, kind of ride it out, because we don't you know we don't really get too freaked out of an earthquake when an earthquake hits here. But this 7.1, like when it started and it started off low and then as soon as that bouncing started, then I think that it set a whole new different level of panic for everybody. And it was it was different than the other ones that we've had before.
[Field:] This was real. This was very real. You were talking a little bit about the fact that we felt an aftershock in here. That got everyone's attention, but it was a few minutes later that really that big one hit. Somehow you got your head together and you snapped into action. Tell everyone about what you were doing in that moment, looking around at your restaurant?
[Corona:] Well the first initial thought was to get out of the building, because I wasn't near and I was near to the table to get under. And then I started going out and I got to the door and I realized that you had to open the door for people and let people out. And then I started looking inside, and there's so many people inside that I did I had to come in here, because there was people slipping over here in the front because there were food there was food spilled. And that's when I started directing people to the other emergency exits, so that people's people wouldn't get trampled up here at the front. And I don't remember. It was it was a blur. It was panic.
[Field:] It is all a blur, but I know that we heard your voice in there. It was incredibly helpful. Ana, I'll tell you that you know the lights went out very quickly. Again, you had about 100 or 150 people here. No one knew exactly what to do, some taking cover, others running for the door, incredibly helpful to have Jason, to have his family, the staff here, just helping people to find a way out. This is an event that has profoundly affected people in this community. The cleanup starting. This family business is certainly hoping to be back on its feet soon. A big part of Ridgecrest. Ana?
[Cabrera:] Wow, it sounds so scary. Glad nobody got hurt there, no deaths to report, wishing that community all the best. Alexandra Field, thank you very much for more now on how people are dealing with the aftermath of these powerful quakes. I want to bring in the Mayor of Ridgecrest. This is Peggy Breeden. Mayor, thank you for being with us. I know your community has been through a lot the past couple of days. Now that you've been able to sort of survey the area and assess the situation, what can you tell us about the damage and injuries across the region?
[Mayor Peggy Breeden, Ridgecrest, California:] We have very few injuries. They're very minor. We've had no deaths considering a 7.1 earthquake. The 5.6 we could have been much more devastated, we weren't. We have our buildings built to earthquake standards. So, consequently, we are having no major damages. We have some structural issues we're dealing with, and on an inspection we have seven building inspectors going around as well as our building department and our planning team walking the city to see where the issues are.
[Cabrera:] So do every single building does every single building need to be inspected?
[Breeden:] Those that are asked to be inspected, the owners have asked us we are going to. Those who we can see from the outside that there may be issues we are going to do.
[Cabrera:] What have the last 48 hours been like for you personally? As we mentioned there was that other powerful earthquake a little more than 24 hours before this one. I imagine the whole community is really shaken for lack of a better word, no pun intended there. But you know internally it's got to be quite emotional?
[Breeden:] You know, it was kind of a test that I think the community and our staff as well as for the cooperation of Kern County, San Bernardino County, the State of California. Virtually every lettered organization in the State is here to help, and we have passed that test. Have we solved everything? Absolutely not. And we are beginning to look at what we need to do to address the issues we can see right now with our eyes and how we address the issues with after inspection what we need to do right.
[Cabrera:] Right. The big question on I think a lot of people's minds now is what's next? What are you hearing and learning and what are you preparing for.
[Breeden:] Well, if you listen to the wise people at Caltech and other geologists around, they tell us to be prepared for other large aftershocks. We may have them, we may not. But whatever we're going to do, we're going to be prepared for them as best we can, because we have no alternative. We're a community in the middle of the desert of 28,000 people. They depend on us for their safety, their health care and any provisions that we can provide and that's what we do. I'm amazed at how strong our community is. We've had people walking around the streets, as you can probably tell it's a little warm here. We've probably got 105 degrees and they're walking around, knocking on their neighbors doors asking "Are you OK? Do you need anything?" We have building contractors volunteering their time. We have organizations saying, "If you need help to fix up a fence, I'll be there". We have volunteers all over the community walking around and helping.
[Cabrera:] That's wonderful. Really wonderful to hear. Officials have said there's a between 3 percent and 10 percent chance there could be an even larger earthquake to hit this area in the coming days. So I can imagine that there's still that anticipation of what could come. You mentioned earlier after that quake hit that some residents were too afraid to even go back in their houses, to go back to sleep. They slept outside. What should residents do tonight?
[Breeden:] Many, people because it is cool warm, but cool and the evenings have chosen to sleep in tents. We have a Red Cross center here at the City of Ridgecrest. It was pretty much full last night, but now we have room for 500. They are able to bring small pets in cages. And I think we had 160 last night and they are feeding them and taking care of them as their needs meet.
[Cabrera:] Mayor Peggy Breeden of Ridgecrest, California. Thank you very much. Please keep in touch so we can help get the word out
[Breeden:] Thank you.
[Cabrera:] to what you need. We are standing your back.
[Breeden:] All right. Thank you.
[Cabrera:] Thank you. Now to the campaign trail and former Vice President Joe Biden previewing how he plans to defend his record on civil rights, how he's using President Obama to prove his case. Plus. more chaotic scenes in California following the biggest earthquake there in decades. How does this one compare to other major quakes in the state's history? You're live in the CNN Newsroom.