A magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit Northern California on Monday, bringing significant shaking however doubtless minimal injury to the sparsely populated space.
The earthquake occurred simply after midday and was centered off the coast about 210 miles northwest of San Francisco, simply off a tiny city known as Petrolia that’s dwelling to fewer than 1,000 folks. The nearest inhabitants middle, Eureka, is about 45 miles north.
That left solely about 25,000 folks within the vary of sturdy or very sturdy shaking, in keeping with the U.S. Geological Survey, although residents as far-off as Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area reported feeling trembling.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s workplace of emergency providers didn’t challenge any evacuation orders, although a number of roads have been closed attributable to rockslides. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated financial losses of lower than $10 million and no fatalities.
The space final suffered an earthquake of an analogous magnitude in 1993, when one individual died, in keeping with the USGS.
As of Monday night, no accidents have been reported however some rural roads have skilled rock slides because of the earthquake, in keeping with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are seeing varying damages, most occurring in the Eel River Valley and South county areas. We have received some reports of structural damages to buildings, broken glass and items thrown from shelves at local businesses. Damage assessments are still underway,” says Samantha Karges, public info specialist of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office.
The quake was “very scary,” in keeping with Ranjeet Singh, proprietor of the Valley Grocery in Ferndale, a city throughout the radius of the earthquake.
Singh’s grocery retailer saved many objects with glass bottles, which then shattered on the ground and triggered doubtlessly hundreds of {dollars} in injury, Singh advised USA TODAY.
However, not one of the clients within the retailer have been injured, and Singh has not heard of anybody within the city up to now who has skilled main accidents.
Singh additionally stated folks throughout the city gathered in Main Street to evaluate the injury, and members from the area people stepped in to assist clear up his retailer after the earthquake.
Petrolia General Store supervisor Jane Dexter advised the San Francisco Chronicle the rumbling and shaking lasted for about 20 seconds. Glass bottles fell off the cabinets on the retailer, bursting on the ground, however nobody was damage, she stated.
“It was bigger than (anything) I’ve felt in a long time out here,” she advised the Chronicle.
According to Michigan Tech, earthquakes with magnitudes from 6.1 to six.9 “may cause a lot of damage in very populated areas,” and there are roughly 100 of them per yr.x
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“Moderate to strong shaking was recorded by the seismic network along the coast. The earthquake was felt in San Francisco by this CGS geologist!” stated California Geological Survey in a Twitter put up.
Little water was displaced, which means the earthquake didn’t set off a tsunami warning, in keeping with seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones. This assertion was later corroborated in an e mail from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office despatched to USA TODAY.
Follow Michelle Shen on Twitter @michelle_shen10.
Contributing: The Associated Press, Wendy Killeen
