What you need to know about Sunday’s earthquake in McKinleyville

At 8:28 a.m. there was a 3.8 earthquake in Mckinleyville.

“For those of you who did feel a little shake and some of you felt two little short shakes close together, that was an earthquake of magnitude 3.8,” said Dr. Lori Dengler the Director of the Humboldt Earthquake Education Center and Redwood Coast Tsunami Work Group. “That was centered roughly eight miles west of us right here. At a depth of about 13 miles beneath the surface in what we call the Gorda plate, 3.8 earthquakes are nothing unusual here on the north coast.”

According to Dengler, there is no sign of a tsunami warning. She shares people should always be prepared for earthquakes of any size with the following: talk about earthquakes to decrease fear about them, recognize the infrastructure of your homes, workplace, and school, and have a backpack prepared full of earthquake safety essentials. 

“The earthquake today is unrelated to the earthquake last December,” Dengler said. “I mean, it was not an aftershock. I shouldn’t say it was completely unrelated because it was certainly related to the same forces that cause those earthquakes, that cause today’s earthquake, that will cause probably the majority of our felt earthquakes in the next decade or so.”

Humboldt County is known as an earthquake country. To stay informed on how to be prepared and safe people can check out this website,  https://rctwg.humboldt.edu.