A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off Northern California's coast Thursday morning, triggering a brief but tense tsunami warning for coastal communities from Oregon to Santa Cruz. The quake's epicenter was located about 50 miles southwest of Eureka,

The last major damaging quake in Northern California, in 1989, had a magnitude of 6.9 and left 63 people dead and more than 3,700 people injured. In Southern California, an earthquake in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1994 left 60 people dead, about 7,000 injured and more than 40,000 buildings damaged.

The earthquake occurred at 10:44 a.m. with an epicenter under the Pacific Ocean, about 70 miles southwest of Eureka and 110 miles northwest of Mendocino.