Magnitude 7 earthquake strikes California

The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), was centered about 39 miles (63 km) west of the town of Ferndale, a sparsely populated portion of the northern California coast, the US Geological Survey said.

A magnitude 7 earthquake hit off the northern California coast on Thursday, prompting a tsunami warning for a large stretch of the California and Oregon coasts, officials said.

The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 km, was centered about 63 km west of the town of Ferndale, a sparsely populated portion of the northern California coast, the US Geological Survey said.

The National Tsunami Center issued a warning for a long stretch of the US West Coast, from Dunes City, Oregon, south to San Francisco and San Jose, California, 643 km away.

San Francisco and a large area of the surrounding Bay Area were under the tsunami warning.