A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck near the town of Petrolia in California today (Dec. 5, 2024) at 10:44 a.m. local time , generating a now discontinued tsunami warning that stretched from southern Oregon to San Francisco, the USA Today website reports.
The quake occurred on the sparsely populated northern coast of California in a seismically complex area known as the Mendocino Triple Junction. It is where three tectonic plates meet and the Northwest's Cascadia subduction zone and California's San Andreas Fault system meet. The quake itself occurred on the Mendocino fault zone.
In Arcata, California , just under 60 miles from Petrolia, 25--year--old Jared Mitchell was having an early lunch in his apartment when he felt a "jolt," he told USA Today.
"It wasn't that big of a violent shake," said Mitchell, an assistant manager at Los Bagels, a bagel shop in town. "But my apartment was swaying back and forth for a bit. It was kind of scary, like I was on a raft in the middle of the sea."
By 12:30 p.m., less than two hours after the initial quake, the area had experienced 13 different aftershocks, ranging from 5.1 to 3.1, according to the U,S, Geological Survey. By 2:30 p.m., the USGS had reported at least 39 aftershocks of at least 2.5 magnitude in the region, including Petrolia and Ferndale.
Traci Grant, 53, a public relations specialist, said she was on the phone with a friend when she felt her San Francisco apartment of 20 years "swaying."
"I felt my whole apartment was moving in slow motion," said Grant. "For a moment I thought I should get my purse and my cat and get out."
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