Quake Sparks Brief Tsunami Scare

7.0 Quake Centered Near Site Of Only Wave Known To Hit U.S.

(CBS/AP)  The area hit is where the North American, Pacific Ocean and Juan de Fuca plates converge and has earthquakes of this magnitude about once a decade, said Lucy Jones, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Pasadena.

"This is a relatively common event," Jones said. "It's what is called a triple junction where three plates come together."

Even though this earthquake did not lead to a tsunami, Jones warned that one similar to the devastating tsunami that hit Asia last December could happen in California.

"We have the potential for an earthquake just like the Sumatra one," she said.

The quake was similar in magnitude to the 6.9 Loma Prieta quake of 1989 that killed 40 people and caused about $6 billion dollars in structural damage in the Bay Area.

"But unlike Loma Prieta, this was located off shore so the damages were not heavy," Lekic said.

Jim Andresen, a fire captain in Humboldt County who is stationed just outside Eureka, about an hour's drive south of Crescent City said there were no reports of injuries or damages in the county.

"It was just a rolling sensation," he said of the earthquake. "I've felt worse in the past. It didn't seem like it was that bad, lasted probably 15 seconds."

Until the tsunami warning was canceled, emergency officials in southern Oregon advised residents of low-lying areas of Brookings, Gold Beach and Port Orford to seek higher ground.

"It made my chair shake; made me a little dizzy," said Judy McDonald, a medical transcriptionist and switchboard operator at the 24-bed Curry General Hospital in Gold Beach.

"Fire department and law enforcement officials were very smooth in how they directed traffic as people headed out of town," reports Boddie. "There is a tsunami warning system, and a system in place to get people out of town quickly in the event that something like this happens, and they said that that seemed to work very well."