Following the California coast earthquake on Thursday morning, various videos capturing the scary moments of the quake circulated on social media. The earthquake triggered emergency tsunami alerts on over 500,000 mobile phones, causing disruption in stores and homes near the epicentre, with items falling from shelves.
A viral video from a home shows the moment the earthquake hit California, with types of furniture violently shaking and falling.
Another recording from a licensed facility in Northern California captured flowering cannabis plants shaking during the 7.0-magnitude tremor in Humboldt County.
The US geological survey confirmed a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, yet minimal damage occurred due to its remote Pacific Ocean location, 200 miles north of San Francisco Bay. Tsunami warnings were lifted within an hour.
“It just started rolling real slow and got bigger and bigger and then hit,” said Margit Cook, 73, a Petrolia general store clerk, to NYT. “And it hit real hard. I just kind of stood there and watched my refrigerator walk across my kitchen floor,” she added.
Humboldt county experienced widespread power outages affecting over 10,000 customers, as reported by poweroutage.us. The main shock was followed by more than twelve aftershocks along the Northern California coast.
California’s last catastrophic earthquake occurred over thirty years ago. The 1989 Northern California earthquake (6.9 magnitude) caused 63 fatalities and injured 3,700 people. The 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles resulted in 60 deaths, 7,000 injuries and damaged 40,000 buildings.
The earthquake struck at 10:44 am pacific time in the Mendocino triple junction, where three major tectonic plates meet. Lucy Jones, former US geological survey natural hazards researcher, noted this area’s high seismic activity.
The horizontal fault movement, known as “strike slip”, typically doesn’t cause significant tsunamis, questioning the necessity of evacuation warnings. Christine Goulet, US geological survey earthquake science center director, defended the alerts as precautionary measures.
Local residents described the experience as similar to a violent lift ride. Sue Nickols, an Eureka elementary school vice principal, followed safety protocols by taking shelter under her desk. Upon reaching her school, she found evacuated students in the field, scared but well-prepared through training. Classes resumed by lunchtime with no apparent damage.