- Draft
- BBC News World
At least two people were killed, 11 injured and thousands without power after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck northern California on Tuesday.
This was reported by the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, which ruled out a tsunami threat.
It occurred at 2:34 a.m. local time (10:34 GMT) and was centered 350 kilometers north of San Francisco and about three km from the beach.
It was followed by about 80 aftershocks ranging from 4.6 to 2.5 on the Richter scale, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Everything that was hanging on the wall came down,” said JP Mathers, a resident of the coastal town of Eureka whose home was hit by the tremors.
The earthquake caused extensive damage to roads in the area, forcing authorities to close several roads to traffic.
Also, several gas pipelines broke and leaked.
A fire broke out in one building, but it was quickly extinguished, and two other houses collapsed.
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.
It could take days to restore service in some remote and heavily forested areas, officials warned, as they continued to assess the damage.
A small 3.6-magnitude earthquake struck the San Francisco area early Saturday, knocking thousands out of bed and causing minor damage to infrastructure.
Other large California cities such as San Francisco and Los Angeles are built in close proximity to the active and dense. San Andreas fault.
It runs through the state for 1,300 kilometers from north to south and separates the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate.
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