6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks California

The State of California has been hit by a devastating earthquake measuring nearly seven on the richter scale.

The United States Geological Survey had reported that the 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred just off the western coast of the United States, roughly six miles deep and 102 miles west of Ferndale, California.

The earthquake magnitude was initially registered as a terrifying 6.8 but experts later downgraded the magnitude to a 6.5.
The earthquake happened at about 10 minutes before 3pm California time, Thursday afternoon.

Emergency officials had received multiple reports of the tremors from about 281 people on land; one San Francisco resident, Lila LaHodd, was quoted as saying:“I felt 20 seconds of very light shaking.”

The Mayor of Ferndale is populated with some 1,300 people. Another resident by name, Don Hindley, also said he felt a 15-second trembling.
Hindley said: “It wasn’t that bad at all.”

Tremors were also felt 250 miles south of the San Francisco Bay area. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency had tweeted that they were suffering from a 10-minute delay in running their systems due to the earthquake.

Ashleigh Jordan, an employee of the Humboldt Bay Fire department in Eureka, said they had not received any calls regarding the quake.
Due to the sparse population in the coastal areas where the quake was most felt, it is believed that the casualty and damage level would be minimal.

California emergency authorities had issued a statement to Hawaii stating there was absolutely zero chance of a tsunami occurring on the island situated some 2,471 miles off the coast of California.

An earthquake which measures between 6 to 6.9 is defined as a strong quake, and possess the energy to destroy building, the effect of this could be catastrophic, especially in areas of dense population and plenty high-rise buildings.

An earthquakes with such amount of energy can be felt for up to over 150 miles from the epicenter. In the case of San Francsico residents, it was felt for close to 260 miles south – with residents that far out claiming to have felt tremors.

However, despite the strong energy of the quake, authorities had not given any tsunami warnings for the region.

Thankfully, Innocent lives were not lost in this natural incident.

Kingsley Ukpai

I write, I write and I keep writing... Most importantly, I make sure everything I write makes sense!

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