A 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck offshore in the Cape Mendocino area of Northern California, the United States Geological Service said on Monday, shattering windows and sending those affected rushing outdoors.
The quake struck at a depth of 9 km (5.6 miles) in the Pacific Ocean about 24 miles (39 km) west of the tiny community of Petrolia along the rocky wilderness of California’s Lost Coast region in Humboldt County.
It could be felt as far south as San Francisco and as far north as Medford, Oregon.
‘It was slow rolling at first, but then it really got going,’ Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told CNN. ‘We haven’t had a shake like this since 2010.’
The quake did not trigger a tsunami warning because of the nature of the fault system from which it came, seismologist Lucy Jones posted on Twitter.
No injuries were immediately reported after the quake struck at 12:10 p.m. local time, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Samantha Karges, said in an email to Reuters.
Some buildings had minor damage including broken glass, with the contents of supermarket shelves also sent flying, but no evacuations were ordered in the sparsely populated region. Local journalist Caroline Titus, who resides in Ferndale, California, shared photos of the damage in her town on Twitter.
Workers and crews were deployed to check for damage to roadways, and two roads were closed due to rockslides caused by the shaking, Karges said.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates economic losses of less than $10 million.
A scientist in San Francisco had felt the shaking about 200 miles (320 km) away, the California Geological Survey posted on Twitter.
‘Moderate to strong shaking was recorded by the seismic network along the coast,’ a posting on the agency’s Twitter feed said. ‘The earthquake was felt in San Francisco by this CGS geologist!
In 1992, the same region was rattled by a series of earthquakes that damaged more than 1,100 homes and businesses, destroying about 200 structures, the Los Angeles Times reported later that year.
The largest of the 1992 quakes measured 7.2, about 10 times the magnitude of Monday’s quake. A small tsunami about 2 feet (0.61 m) high was also recorded.
The Humboldt County Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for information on whether there had been injuries or damage.
