Northern California residents thankful 7.0 earthquake didn't cause much more damage
Residents in Humboldt County were relieved Friday to have avoided the worst potential impacts of Thursday's magnitude 7.0 quake, though there was still some damage to clean up.
The region has seen well over 120 aftershocks since the quake struck, was as many as four or five measurable aftershocks per hour rattling the area.
In the town of Rio Dell, most residents are just grateful things were not worse.
"I was up like this," explained April Ness, demonstrating how she was stocking a refrigerator in the Humboldt County deli and store where she works. "So I was up like this and it started shimming. I grabbed a hold like this. And then I saw the syrup for the ice cream start flying off the shelf. Like the ground was just coming up. So we just kind of tiptoed, and went straight towards the door. Got everybody out quickly."
For Ness, Thursday's earthquake was a kind of Humboldt County initiation. She recently moved to Scotia from Kentucky.
"It was a crazy ride," she said. "Never done anything like that before in my life. And I don't think I ever want to again."
And the tacky sound produced by shoes on the floor gives an idea of how much cleaning up has taken place here at Hoby's Market & Deli.
"They were all on the floor," she said of the wine bottles. "Of course we've got things trying to soak up everything."
A day later, the cleanup is still unfolding. But the mess was mitigated, somewhat, by lessons learned from years past.
"Two years ago, when a really bad earthquake hit, they put reinforced wire on all of these racks," Ness said of the liquor cabinets. "And they actually really did help this time. So we didn't lose as much alcohol as what they did before."
Stephen DeLong, a research geologist with the USGS, said the differing results from the two quakes are both complex, and relatively simple.
"Yeah it's pretty interesting because the quake yesterday released eight times more energy. It was really a much larger earthquake than the one in 2022," explained DeLong.
Geography and location played a big part in the difference, he said.
"The simplest answer is that the Ferndale earthquake in 2022 was much closer to land. It was just offshore, just a little bit west of Ferndale. The way that earthquake ruptured, it just sent its energy eastward and right up that river valley that you're in," DeLong said. "A lot of the shaking and Rio Dell affected the structures there. These are seismic waves, just like waves in a pool. These things will go through the soft sediments that you're standing on there in town. And then behind you, there's harder rock hills. And some of the energy can kind of be reflected back."
Previous quakes have caused vastly more damage. On the wall at Hoby's, there's a photo on display of the original market burning to the ground.
"That was April 26, 1992," Ness said of the photo.
So another year, another quake. Only this one was just a glancing blow compared to what the nearby fault can do.
"It's just amazing that within less than a minute all of this happened," Ness said.
There are people here who can point to parts of their buildings and say that damage came in 2022. The consensus seems to be that quake, with that strong initial jolt, landed much harder here. Remember that time the Ferndale Bridge was closed for a bit, and power was out for a while.
Nothing like that has happened after Thursday's 7.0 for a community that knows all about strong earthquakes that frequently seem to strike around this time of year lately. And a lot of locals will tell you they know the next one might not be that far off.