A massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake hits the coast of Northern California.

FOX26 found out from experts what they know about it so far.

Elizabeth Cochran, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey, said the quake struck around 10 a.m. Thursday near the town of Petrolia, California

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She said: “There were relatively strong shakings in the area and there were some reports of damage.”

She says we can expect aftershocks to continue for the next few hours, days, weeks and even months after an earthquake of this size.

Although this earthquake was the strongest in the area in a long time, experts say, it’s really not unusual for this stretch of California’s coast.

Christopher Pluhar, a geology professor at Fresno State University, says the area where it hit is known to have earthquakes.

“There are fairly regular earthquakes up there, but usually of smaller magnitude,” he said.

“We have a history of magnitudes 6 and 7 in this area, so this wasn’t particularly unusual, but of course still a major event,” Cochran explained.

As for the tsunami warning, one could say that it was a “just in case” precaution until it was clear that the threat of a tsunami had passed.

Pluhar explains.

“The fact that it was a lateral movement tends to mean that it’s not very dangerous for tsunamis. Because when something moves back and forth, you basically don’t disturb the water above it that much. “Vertical movement, on the other hand, suddenly creates a pile of water on one side of the fault and a depression in the sea surface on the other side,” he said.

Both Pluhar and Cochran say this is nothing new since we live in an earthquake zone.

For those of us who live in California and the West Coast, there is always a risk of earthquakes and we should be prepared. Be aware that if you are shaking, you should leave cover and hold on, or at least try to move away from dangerous objects to protect yourself from the shaking. So that’s the main concern.

Cochran says there have been eight earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater in this region since about 1920.

The largest of these had a magnitude of 7.4 and occurred in 1922.

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More recently, she points out that we have had some magnitude 6.2, 6.4 and 6.6 strengths in the last 10 years.

Cochran also says the chance of a major event occurring is about 5% and is probably even lower now.

She says the probability is small, but not zero, that a major earthquake could occur in the coming days.