A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the northern California coast on Thursday, triggering a tsunami warning that was later canceled for the California and Oregon coasts, officials reported. Some 4.7 million residents of California and Oregon were under the tsunami warning, and many of them even evacuated.
A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Northern California on Thursday, December 5, triggering a tsunami warning that extended to Oregon, but which was later canceled, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported.
The quake, which struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), was centered about 39 miles (63 kilometers) west of the city of Ferndale, a sparsely populated area on California’s northern coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The National Tsunami Center issued a warning for a long stretch of the U.S. west coast, from Dunes City, Oregon, south to San Francisco and San Jose, California, 400 miles (643 kilometers) away.
San Francisco and a large surrounding area of San Francisco Bay were under a tsunami warning, but it was canceled.
“The tsunami warning is canceled for coastal areas of California and Oregon. There is currently no tsunami threat for this area,” according to a statement from the U.S. Meteorological Service’s Tsunami Warning System.
The initial jolt was followed within three minutes by a magnitude-5.8 aftershock 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) off Cobb in Northern California, and more than a dozen tremors ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 4.3, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
No casualties have been reported so far. Local authorities are working to assess possible damage and are advising citizens to stay away from beach areas.
Although earthquakes are common throughout the state of California, as it lies on the western edge of the North American plate, they rarely exceed magnitude 5.
The most tragic earthquake in recent history, one that still remains fresh in the memory of many Californians, was the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a magnitude 6.7 quake in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, which left 57 dead, thousands injured, and extensive property damage.