Topline
A massive earthquake in Northern California on Tuesday left 11 people injured, 2 dead and over 70,000 in the region without power, local authorities said.
This image posted by Caltrans District 1 shows a road closure on California State Route 211 at … [+]
Key Facts
The quake, which happened in Humboldt County, near the small town of Ferndale, around 2:30 a.m. local time, recorded a magnitude of 6.4, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The Humboldt Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services said two people died as a result of medical emergencies which occurred during or shortly after the earthquake hit.
Some 11 people have been injured because of the quake, and over 70,000 were left without power, authorities said.
Over 67,000 outages were reported in Humboldt on tracker PowerOutage.us, representing 68% of the county.
Roughly 80 aftershocks were recorded later on Tuesday and the USGS said there is a 13% chance of at least one or more aftershocks over a magnitude of 5 occurring within the next week, though the sheriff’s department said a tsunami is not expected.
Despite the strength of the quake, damage appeared to be “minimal,” a spokesperson for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services told the Associated Press.
Key Background
Ferndale is located near California’s coast, close to the city Eureka, and is within the vicinity of the Oregon border. The area is used to being hit by earthquakes. Exactly one year ago, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in Humboldt. In 1980, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurred in the area, and a 6.8 one occurred in 2014, according to the Associated Press. The county is home to roughly 136,000 people. On Saturday, a 3.6 magnitude earthquake occurred near San Francisco.
Further Reading
Two dead in 6.4-magnitude California earthquake that causes widespread damage (San Francisco Chronicle)
2 people are dead, 11 injured after 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Northern California (CNN)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/12/20/northern-california-earthquake-2-dead-70k-without-power-as-aftershocks-ripple/