Powerful 7.0 Earthquake Strikes Off Coast of Northern California; Tsunami Warning Canceled

A map released by the U.S. Geological Survey on Dec. 5, 2024, shows the location of an earthquake that struck near Ferndale, Calif. USGS

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California on Dec. 5, according to U.S. officials, triggering a brief tsunami warning.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the tremor hit about 60 miles west-southwest of Ferndale, California, a city located about 100 miles south of the California–Oregon border.

“We haven’t received any reports of outside damage, just a lot of inside [stuff] breaking and messes,” Ferndale City Clerk Kristene Hall told The Epoch Times. “Things were thrown off the shelves.”

City officials were out in the town checking on the effects of the large quake on the morning of Dec. 6 but hadn’t found any houses damaged.

The city also had no reports of injuries at 11:30 a.m., Hall said.

“No houses are down or anything like that, which is good because it was pretty shaky here,” she said.

A tsunami warning was issued in the immediate aftermath of the quake but was lifted about 50 minutes later. The National Weather Service’s San Francisco office had issued the warning on social media about possible tsunami impacts: “We are still waiting for magnitudes of water rise.”

The earthquake struck at a depth of about six miles at approximately 10:44 a.m. local time. It was first preliminarily registered as being a 6.6 on the Richter scale, but the USGS upgraded it a 7.0 a short while later.

Several aftershocks of smaller magnitudes struck in the area off the coast after the initial 7.0-magnitude temblor, according to the USGS.

About three minutes after the 7.0 earthquake struck, a 2.5-magnitude earthquake also hit inland about 200 miles to the southeast in Cobb, located in Central California, the USGS reported. The Cobb tremor was revised down from 5.8 by the USGS.

Residents in Northern California and California’s Central Valley reported feeling the tremor, according to the agency’s website. Users on social media platform X also reported shaking.

Some users also posted screenshots of National Weather Service tsunami warning messages they had received through their phones before it was rescinded.

“A series of powerful waves and strong currents may impact coasts near you. You are in danger. Get away from coastal waters,” the notice said. “Move to high ground or inland now. Keep away from the coast until local officials say it is safe to return.”

Deanne Criswell, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has been briefed on the quake and is “monitoring the situation” in California, an official confirmed.

“Please listen to local officials and heed their warnings,” FEMA spokesperson Jaclyn Rothenberg wrote on X.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit, which runs metro trains across the San Francisco and Oakland areas, said that it is experiencing service disruptions because of the Ferndale earthquake and tsunami warning.

“There is a major delay system-wide in all directions,” the transit operator said. “There is currently no Transbay Tube service to or from San Francisco due to a report of an earthquake. Please seek alternate means of transportation.”