How much damage did todays earthquake in Ferndale, California do?”
Looking South from approximately 420 Main Street immediately after the earthquake. Photo by Edna Garrett. Courtesy of the Ferndale Museum. USGS researchers propose that the April 18, 1906 earthquake had a magnitude between 7.7 and 7.9, a rupture length of more than 290 miles, and a shaking duration of 45-60 seconds. This page quotes from The Ferndale Enterprise, a semi-weekly publication, run by “Frost, Briggs and Butler, Proprietors” which ran a series of extras in the weeks around the event as well as The Humboldt Beacon from Fortuna, California. Both accounts were typed in from the original newspapers – both are still being published. The Ferndale Enterprise April 20, 1906 — Terrific Shock of Earthquake All san-serif bold text has been added to the original newspaper accounts. Loss in Ferndale Alone Will Reach Into the Thousands, and Heavy Damage is Reported Throughout the County Lives and Property Lost in San Francisco The City and Nearly all the Coast Towns Visited by the Shake.
and the large collection of photographs, journals, and letters collected by local historical societies and museums. The highest intensity (modified Mercalli [MMI] IX) occurred in the Petrolia and upper Mattole Valley. The entire coastal region from Shelter Cove to the Eel River Valley experienced intensities of at least VIII. The most detailed damage descriptions come from Ferndale, where newspaper reports detail the damage to over 40 structures in the downtown area. Fewer than 2% of chimneys survived, both brick buildings were severely damaged, and about 25% of the commercial wood buildings were twisted by the ground shaking. Liquefaction was observed in the Mattole Valley throughout the Eel River Valley and as far north as Fields Landing on Humboldt Bay, which exceeded the aerial extent and scale of any other historic event, including the 1992 Cape Mendocino earthquake (Mw 7.2). In contrast to the isoseismal map published in the Lawson Report, damage in Eureka and the Humboldt Bay re
FRESNO, Calif – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California Saturday afternoon, shaking buildings south of the Oregon border and knocking out power in several coastal communities. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at about 4:27 p.m. about 27 miles from Eureka, a city of about 26,000. No injuries have been reported. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. spokesman J.D. Guidi said power outages were widespread across most of Humboldt County, affecting about 25,000 customers.
