The tsunami alert, triggered Thursday after a powerful magnitude 7 earthquake on the California coast, in the west of the United States, was lifted after less than an hour. Authorities said there were no further dangers or threats following the earthquake.
A powerful magnitude 7 earthquake struck Thursday near the coast of northern California, the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS) announced, triggering a tsunami alert.
The earthquake struck around 6:44 p.m. GMT (7:44 p.m. BST) at a depth of 10 kilometers near the small town of Eureka, according to the USGS. In the process, a tsunami alert was also issued by the US National Tsunami Center, an American government agency. It had been declared for the coast, as far as Oregon and as far south as Santa Cruz. No tidal waves were reported.
San Francisco residents had received the message on their cell phones telling them to seek higher ground. An aftershock of magnitude 4.2 was also measured.
The west coast of the United States lies at the confluence of several tectonic plates and earthquakes are relatively frequent there.
-The region has been affected by several major earthquakes, including the 1994 earthquake that struck Northridge in the Los Angeles area. It caused dozens of deaths and thousands of injuries, as well as billions of dollars in damage to homes and infrastructure.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which also caused a tsunami, is believed to have killed more than 3,000 people, some of whom died in fires that broke out after the powerful quake.
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