Weather & Science

Aftershocks Rattle Northern California Following Large Quake

  • Magnitude-7.0 quake briefly triggered a tsunami warning
  • Rail service restored on Bay Area BART transit lines

Pedestrians on Ocean Beach after a tsunami warning in San Francisco on Dec. 5.

Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
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California’s largest earthquake in years rattled a wide swath of the West Coast Thursday and briefly triggered a tsunami warning that shut down transit systems and sent some residents fleeing for higher ground.

The magnitude-7.0 quake, striking mid-morning off the coast of California’s far north, caused little immediate damage and proved not to be the long-feared “big one” that overshadows life in the Golden State. But the temblor and a swarm of aftershocks served as potent reminders of the region’s seismic danger.