A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck Eureka at around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, leaving much of the city without power and police scanners buzzing with reports of damage and injuries. 
 
 The quake, which lasted for around 30 seconds, had power poles waving back and forth along Eureka streets and brought panicked residents out of their homes. 
 
 The Bayshore Mall, as of 5:30 p.m., had been closed off to customers and employees. It was unclear how many people were injured there, but one employee reported that several people were picked up by ambulances. 
 
 Employees also reported light fixtures falling out of the ceiling and floor tiles popping up off the ground. Another employee reported seeing chunks of the ceiling fall onto customers. 
 
 Employees 
 
 Eureka Natural Foods shortly after the quake. (Shaun Walker) 
 
 were waiting around to get back in to the building to collect their things and survey the damage. 
 
 All along Broadway, Eureka's busiest thoroughfare, lights were out and traffic was heavy as people attempted to get out of town. 
 
 Arcata, near Humboldt State University, had power, and residents of McKinleyville also reported having power. Fortuna seemed fairly undamaged as of early evening. 
 
 Sgt. Matt Eberhart of the Fortuna Police Department said Fortuna takes dispatches for Rio Dell, Ferndale and Fortuna, adding that there were a couple reports of gas leaks and of businesses that had items had falling off the shelves, including Safeway and Beverage Plus. 
 
 One woman in front of Fortuna's Rite Aid said she lived four miles from the 
 
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 epicenter of the Loma Prieta quake and said this was a piece of cake. 
 
 "This was nothing compared to Loma Prieta," said Theresa Chesmore. 
 
 In Eureka, 77-year-old Paul Knaak owns a two-story house on Summer Street, where he had two broken water pipes and his belongings strewn across the floor. 
 
 "I don't know about the foundation yet," he said, as he waited outside Shafer's Ace Hardware in Henderson Center to purchase supplies. The store, however, was closed. 
 
 He said it was the biggest quake he'd experienced in his life. 
 
 Mike Hagedorn, bakery manager at Winco, said the store was a mess. 
 
 "Everything was off the shelves," he said. "It was booming ... . You can imagine our liquor section right now." 
 
 Phillip Smith-Hanes, Humboldt County administrative officer and public information officer for this incident through the Office of Emergency Services, confirmed just before 6 p.m. that the quake measured 6.5. 
 
 The epicenter was 20 miles west-northwest of Ferndale. 
 
 "Kind of straight west of Humboldt Hill," Smith-Hanes said. 
 
 The office has not received any reports of major injury. 
 
 "We do have quite a few reports of damage,"Smith-Hanes said. 
 
 He classified the damage as minor to moderate. 
 
 As of 7 p.m., about 27,000 PG&E; customers were without power. 
 
 Broken gas lines and downed power lines were the most types of calls coming across the scanner. 
 
 Marshall Boyett of McKinleyvile was driving when the earthquake hit. 
 
 "It was like the street was breakdancing," Boyett said. 
 
 Releases from both HSU and St. Joseph Health System said no injuries were reported at those locations. 
 
 Power is out at the Times-Standard, and reports Saturday evening were filed from the parking lot on a single laptop, illiminated by headlamps from employee vehicles. 
 
 Jana Morris, spokewoman for PG&E;, said just before 8 p.m. that about 28,000 customers didn't have power. Outages have been reported in all the major cities and unincorporated area. 
 
 "We have done a thorough investigation of the power plants, both the fossil and nuclear sites, and everything looks good," Morris said. "The investigation turned out that there was no significant damage and everything is up and running." 
 
 Morris said that crews will work around the clock to try and restore power with estimates of power being restored in some areas as late as Sunday night. Crews from Mendocino and Sonoma counties were on their way to help as of 8 p.m. 
 
 Morris said that people should not approach downed power lines even if the neighborhood is dark. 
 
 Report down power lines to 911 or 1-800-PGE-5000. 
 
 The temblor was felt at least as far east as Willow Creek where the night manager Chris Potter said the movement was definitely noticeable. 
 
 "It was pretty intense," he said. "We really felt it." 
 
 He said he thought merchandise would be falling, but that didn't happen. 
 
 According to the U.S. Geological Survey Web site, it appears as if six aftershocks have struck since the major shaiking began, none of which approached the original magnitude of the quake. ||||| Reporting from Los Angeles and Eureka, Calif. - The day after a powerful earthquake rocked the Northern California city of Eureka, residents woke today to a mess: toppled chimneys, downed traffic signals and shattered nerves as minor aftershocks continued to rattle windows.About 30 people visited hospitals for minor injuries, but there were no reports of major injuries caused by the magnitude-6.5 temblor, which struck offshore at 4:27 p.m. about 33 miles southwest of the coastal city of 26,000.More than 25,000 people were initially without power, but electricity was restored to everyone shortly after 6 a.m., according to David Eisenhauer, spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co."We're checking all the bridges and buildings and hope to have a complete damage assessment soon," said Leslie Lollich, spokeswoman for the Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services.Already, officials had declared an apartment building and several commercial structures unsafe, referring the residents to Red Cross officials for temporary shelter.At the 124-year-old St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church in Eureka, parishioners were busy picking up pieces of plaster that had fallen from the ceiling and climbing ladders to adjust paintings that had tilted in the shaking. The church's tall steeple was intact after the quake.Pastor H. Loren Allen said he had delivered a homily to church members that gave thanks for the relatively minor damage. "I didn't want to make light of it," he said, "but I didn't want to sound like the grim reaper either."Centered about 13 miles deep, the quake was felt as far north as central Oregon, as far south as Santa Cruz and as far east as Reno, the U.S. Geological Survey said."It was a monstrous one," said Phil Burns, owner of Mity Nice Bakery Cafe Restaurant in Eureka, which is about 80 miles south of the Oregon border. "Usually, they're sharp, but this one was very wiggly. It was rolling in all directions."In the south Eureka fishing village of King Salmon, the 10 seconds of shaking broke power lines and knocked out electricity throughout the isolated seaside community of about 750 people.When it stopped, people gathered in the street. Some were visibly distraught. Shouts of "You all right?" were heard. Then car engines began revving up as residents raced to the only access road to the closest higher ground, the 150-foot-high Bell Hill, in case of a tsunami, said William Bowman, a resident. None materialized, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.Residents of Northern California coastal communities have reason to worry about tsunamis. In 1964, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake off the Alaskan coast sent a catastrophic tsunami to Crescent City, north of Eureka, killing 11 people.Frayed nerves were evident throughout the Humboldt County region as dusk fell. Rooms at Mad River Community Hospital in Arcata, 15 miles north of Eureka, were in the dark, and patients in robes were sitting in the hallway. Generators provided only enough power to keep vital machinery working, said nursing supervisor Annie Conkler."Everyone's shaken, but fine," she said, adding that there were no patients with quake-related injuries coming into the emergency room.At Myrtle Avenue Pet Center on Hubbard Lane in Eureka, owner Melanie Noe spent the evening picking up shampoo bottles and shattered dog bowls. The only other casualties were the cats' nerves, she said.On the other side of town, lamps and dishes crashed down at Antiques and Goodies, causing a couple to run out of the store, while two women took cover under a table. "We've been through a lot of earthquakes, but I can't recall there ever being any this bad," said store owner Sandra Hall.To the south, floodlights fell at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds, and windows shattered in Ferndale. Farther south, in Redway, shoppers abandoned their carts in a grocery store and raced to their cars.State officials said authorities in the county have not asked for additional assistance from Sacramento."It looks like they will be able to handle it on their own," said Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the California Emergency Management Agency. "Our big concern now is aftershocks."At least 10 aftershocks were reported in the hours after the temblor, the strongest of them registering 4.2.Richard Allen, a UC Berkeley seismologist, said the area where the earthquake occurred was in the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates collide: the Pacific, North American and Juan de Fuca. It is one of the most seismically active parts of the San Andreas fault system that runs through the state."Although 6.5 is a large event, it is not uncommon there by any means," said Richard Buckmaster, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist.The last major quakes in the offshore region, Buckmaster said, were magnitude 7.2 and 6.6 temblors in June 2005. ||||| As of right now, major networks and newspapers are failing to report what's being noted on Twitter as a giant fucking earthquake that just hit somewhere around Humboldt County. But Twitter users sure seem to know what's up. 
 
 Brian Stetler at the New York Times found some solid pictures off of Twitter of the 'quake. Good lookin' out! 
 
 Some of our favorite observations so far! 
 
 The media is sloooooooow says Michael van Poppel, who heads up the BNO team/Twitter feed. This is like Usain Bolt telling you to stop dragging ass. 
 
 Crowdsourcey! (Thanks, Bucky). 
 
 Trenchant! 
 
 Accessible! 
 
 Uhh, sure! 
 
 Did you see any good Tweets about the Earthquake? Let me know! Twitter tends to bring out the most exciting/fanatical in people during emergencies, and it's great fun to watch, and it'll be even better one they're all high again.
– Communities in Humboldt County in northern California are cleaning up today after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake rocked the coastal area yesterday afternoon. " It was like the street was breakdancing, " a local resident who was driving when the temblor struck around 4:30pm told the Times-Standard of Eureka, 33 miles from the epicenter. There were numerous reports of power outages and property damage, but no serious injuries and no tsunami warning. "It was a monstrous one," a Eurekar restaurateur told the Los Angeles Times. "Usually, they're sharp, but this one was very wiggly." Humboldt County, about 275 miles northeast of San Francisco, enjoys a reputation as "the Napa Valley of weed," Gawker notes. " The pot will be OK no need to start a panic! " tweeted one Humboldt resident.