Severe 'quake hits U.S.

Press, 10 November 1980, Page 1

Severe 'quake hits U.S.

NZPA San Francisco The most powerful earthquake in northern California in more than 50 years struck a coastal region near Eureka early on Saturday, collapsing a freeway overpass and knocking some houses off their foundations. Authorities said there were no known fatalities, but six people were injured, five of them seriously, when two vehicles plunged off the shattered overpass. Over-all damage was light, however, in view of the magnitude of the earthquake. Initial estimates by the University, of California’s seismographic station at Berkeley put the force of the quake at 6.6 on the Richter scale.

It was the most powerful earthquake in the area since a tremor that measured 7.2 on the Richter scale occurred on January 23, 1923, the Geological Survey said. Seismologists placed the epicentre of Saturday’s earthquake in the Pacific Ocean 32km north-west of Eureka, a coastal city of about 25,000 people, The shock was felt as far away as San Francisco, 360 km south.

Severe earth tremors rippled through Al Asnam, Algeria, on Saturday, injuring at least 36 people and further damaging what remained of the city after the devastating earthquake last month.

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