Northern California was rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake late Thursday morning.
After the tremor struck at 10:45 a.m., just over 60 miles to the west-southwest of Humboldt County’s Ferndale, a tsunami warning was issued for a wide swath of the West Coast. The warning extended from Oregon through central California and at least 5.3 million people in California were affected.
The warnings were canceled by the National Weather Service minutes later.
The agency estimated than more than 1.3 million people lived close enough to the quake to feel its impact. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries, but some store owners said their goods had been broken.
Olivia Cobian, the innkeeper at Ferndale’s Gingerbread Mansion, told The Los Angeles Times that her building “looked like a war zone.”
In San Francisco, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, known as BART, experienced major delays.
The San Francisco Zoo’s visitors were evacuated, its animals were secured and staff were moved to higher ground.
Mayor London Breed activated the city’s Emergency Operations Center in response to the warnings. She advised people to move off the coast and at least one block inland.
With reporting from The Associated Press
San Francisco senior flees for higher ground after massive quake: ‘It was very frightening’
San Francisco resident Carol Ruth Silver, 86, quickly bundled into a car and evacuated to a nearby hilltop when she got the tsunami warning this morning, reports The Independent’s Io Dodds (who also lives in the city).
Silver got the alert as she was drinking her morning coffee and eating her oatmeal. While she was still absorbing it, a friend arrived and showed her the US government’s official danger map – with the entire San Francisco peninsula marked in bright red.
In fact, the actual evacuation zone was much smaller and limited to low-level coastland. But with no clear picture the tsunami was going to be, Silver, her friend, and a family member fled for higher ground.
“It was very frightening,” she told The Independent. “It said we’re in danger and you need to get out of where you are. It didn’t say how far up it was going to go …“My thoughts were: let’s get out of here!”
From her chosen roost of Corona Heights Park, just above the city’s Castro LGBT+ district, the party had a good view as nothing much happened.
“We were able to sit comfortably and listen to the warnings until we heard that whatever was gonna happen had happened,” Silver said.
Though her house in the Mission District was not in danger, Silver is glad that she took the situation seriously and evacuated.
“It is a warning that we in California live right above cracks in the crust of the Earth, and we have to at all times be ready with our evacuation,” she said.
Just make sure that you don’t forget your supplies.
“I have a bright red emergency backpack … with a medical kit, and water, and things like that,” says Silver. “I should have taken it with me, but I did not.”
Io Dodds5 December 2024 21:45
This year has seen several earthquakes with magnitude 7.0 or higher
In August, a tremor of the same magnitude struck Russia, and a 7.1 hit Japan’s Hyuganada Sea.
Chile saw a 7.4 quake in July after a 7.1 shook the Philippines.
In June, a 7.2 impacted Peru.
The earlier months were relatively quiet, other than a 7.4 in Taiwan, a 7.0 in China, and a 7.5 on Japan’s Noto Peninsula.
Julia Musto5 December 2024 21:30
USGS scientist says large earthquake was followed by smaller aftershocks
Stephen DeLong, a geologist with the USGS Earthquake Science Center, said in a news briefing that there was one large earthquake followed by several smaller aftershocks.
DeLong said it was too early to fully assess the scale of the damage, according to The New York Times.
Dozens of smaller earthquakes were reported around California on the agency’s website.
Julia Musto5 December 2024 21:18
California Department of Conservation’s tsunami map website experienced outages after warnings, report says
The California Department of Conservation’s tsunami map website experienced outages Thursday morning after the tsunami warnings across the California coast, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
It displayed an error message.
Julia Musto5 December 2024 21:11
Breed says San Francisco Emergency Operations Center will continue to monitor situation
Julia Musto5 December 2024 20:58
Evacuation orders in Berkeley have been lifted
The Berkeley Police Department had told residents located west of Seventh Street to head inland immediately and to leave behind anything that was not essential.
Waves were forecast to reach the region at around noon, according to Berkeleyside.
Julia Musto5 December 2024 20:54
What did the earthquake feel like?
Kaitlin Graves, an employee at the Petrolia General Store, said that the shaking was intense and lasted for just 10 seconds.
“It was a big earthquake. It was a lot of up-and-down shaking,” Graves said in a phone interview with The Los Angeles Times. “It felt like the woozy feeling you get when you’re in an elevator.”
Social media users reported feeling it much longer than that.
Julia Musto5 December 2024 20:52