A 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the northern California coast Tuesday morning, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), causing power outages but no tsunami warning.
The tremor, relatively shallow, occurred about forty kilometers southwest of the coastal city of Eureka.
In a preliminary assessment, the USGS said the probability of death or injury was low, but property damage was possible.
The National Tsunami Warning Center said no tsunami was expected.
The power grid appeared to be affected, with 60,000 homes without power in Humboldt County, according to poweroutage.us.
“Power is out throughout County,” Humboldt County Emergency Services, which is based in Eureka, wrote in a message on Twitter.
California is regularly shaken by earthquakes and seismologists warn that within the next 30 years an earthquake capable of causing widespread destruction will almost certainly strike this state.
In 1994, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Northridge, northwest of Los Angeles, killed at least 60 people and caused an estimated $10 billion in damage, while a magnitude 6.9 in San Francisco in 1989 claimed 67 lives.
