SIGN UP FOR OUR Washington, Dec 8 — A magnitude-6.5 earthquake rattled California‘s northern coast on Thursday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said.
7.7 earthquake in the Solomon Islands, Thursday, Dec. 8, source Facebook.
There have been no reports thus far of casualties or significant material damage.
The temblor occurred at 6:49 am (1449 GMT) off the coast, with its epicenter located 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the coastal town of Ferndale, the USGS said.
The National Weather Service said there was no need to issue a tsunami warning.
Northern California is one of the most seismically active areas of the western United States.
Ferndale, a community of some 1,300 people, is part of Humboldt County, which was struck in January 1992 by a magnitude-7.3 temblor that damaged homes and infrastructure, caused landslides and generating a minor tsunami.
Later, a powerful magnitude-7.7 earthquake shook the Solomon Islands, triggering tsunami warnings for parts of the South Pacific, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The temblor, whose epicenter was located 68 kilometers (42 miles) southwest of the town of Kirakira at a depth of 48.7 kilometers, occurred at 4:38 am Friday local time (1738 GMT Thursday).
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued a tsunami watch for the U.S. state of Hawaii but subsequently canceled it, and there have been no reports yet of damage in the epicenter region.
The PTWC also warned of possible tsunami waves in the coming hours in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and Kosrae.
The temblor was felt particularly strongly in Makira, the main island of one of the Solomon archipelago’s most sparsely populated provinces.
The islands are part of the Pacific Rim’s s “Ring of Fire,” a region of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. EFE
