5.7 earthquake strikes near Northern California coast

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake was centered about 25 miles southwest of the town of Ferndale, California. It was 204 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Jay Parrish, the city manager of Ferndale, said it was a gentle, yet fairly significant earthquake.

It was a rolling event, he said. “Not jerky.”

Lt. Wayne Hanson of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, who was in his office on the bottom floor of the courthouse in nearby Eureka, said it was “nothing out of the ordinary.” He estimated the quake to have lasted 5 to 10 seconds. Both Hanson and Parrish said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Based on initial information, the National Tsunami Warning Center said on its website that it didn’t expect a tsunami to be generated by the earthquake.

“It was a sizable earthquake, but not large enough to cause concern,” David Walsh, an oceanographer in Hawaii with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said.

A magnitude 5.7 quake is considered strong enough to be felt by everyone in the affected area and could do some damage to buildings, the USGS said on its website.

One person felt the quake about 300 miles away in San Jose, Julie Dutton of the USGS said. There were at least two aftershocks — one was a magnitude 3.3 — in the area, the USGS said.