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- BBC News World
image source, Archyde.com
The quake was followed by a series of smaller followingshocks.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake left at least two dead, 11 injured and thousands without power in Northern California on Tuesday.
This was reported by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, which ruled out a tsunami risk.
It occurred at 2:34 a.m. local time (10:34 GMT) and had the epicenter 350 kilometers north of the city of San Francisco and regarding three kilometers from the coast.
It was followed by regarding 80 followingshocks of magnitudes between 4.6 and 2.5, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Everything that was hanging on the walls fell off,” said JB Mathers, a resident of the coastal city of Eureka, who was struck by the tremor at home.
image source, Archyde.com
As of noon local time, some 69,000 people were still without power.
The tremor also caused a series of damages to the roads in the area, forcing the authorities to close several roads to traffic.
In addition, several gas pipes were broken, giving rise to leaks.
A fire broke out in a building, but it was quickly extinguished, and two other houses collapsed.
image source, Archyde.com
“Everything that was hanging on the walls fell off,” said JB Mathers of Eureka.
According to data from Poweroutages.us, a website that tracks power outages across the country, at noon local time 69,000 people were still without electricity.
image source, Archyde.com
At least two buildings collapsed and a fire broke out in another.
It might take days to restore service in some remote and heavily forested areas, authorities warned, as they continue to assess the damage.
A smaller, magnitude 3.6 quake struck the San Francisco region early Saturday morning, knocking thousands out of bed and causing minor damage to infrastructure.
image source, Archyde.com
The tremor caused damage to several houses.
San Francisco, as well as other large Californian cities such as Los Angeles, have been built in the vicinity of the active and imposing San Andreas fault.
This runs through the state from north to south for 1,300 kilometers and delimits the North American plate from the Pacific plate, making the area highly seismic.
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