5.9-magnitude quake hits California-Nevada border
A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck near California's border with Nevada on Jul 8, 2021, causing a rock slide on a highway. (Screencap: Twitter/Brett Durrant)
SAN FRANCISCO: A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck near California's border with Nevada on Thursday (Jul 8) afternoon, with people reporting feeling the shaking hundreds of miles away, according to the US Geological Survey.
The quake, initially registered at a 6.2-magnitude struck at a depth of 10km and was centered near the town of Walker, California, about 240km east of state capital Sacramento, the USGS said on its website.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Sally Rosen, who owns a popular burger restaurant in Walker, near the epicentre, said her 2-year-old was napping in her arms in her home behind the restaurant when the earthquake hit.
“We felt the shaking of the building, and we didn’t know quite what it was at first,” she told KGO-TV in San Francisco.
“It kept going, and it was pretty intense and scary, frankly. So we ran out of the house as fast as we could and ran to the restaurant because the first thought was, ‘Oh my goodness, we need to shut off the gas'. ”
She said cups and other items flew off the shelves, and oil splattered from the fryers.
The quake was followed by a cluster of smaller tremors in the same region of the eastern Sierra Nevada range, the USGS reported.
Weak to light shaking was reported as far away as San Francisco, about 322km to the east, and as far west as the Nevada capital of Carson City, according to the crowd-sourced "Did You Feel It" map posted by the USGS.
US 395, a major route through the northern Sierra Nevada, was closed because of rock slides, the state Department of Transportation said. The closure stretched about 64km from near the town of Willow Springs to Nevada border.
The California governors' office emergency services division said it was "actively monitoring" the situation.
"While there are no preliminary reports of damage or injuries, this is a rapidly evolving situation and more details will emerge in the coming hours," it posted on Twitter.
The USGS said there was a low likelihood of casualties and damage from the quake based on its size and location.
