The quake, whose epicenter was located 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of Ferndale and 224 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Sacramento, was felt all the way in the neighboring state of Oregon to the north, in Reno, Nevada to the west and in Santa Cruz in the south, the US Geological Survey said.

The coastal city of Eureka, home to 26,000 inhabitants, was most rattled by the temblor, along with neighboring Humboldt Hill and Ferndale.

Officials sought to reassure worried locals Sunday.

"We can say that most of the city came through pretty well," Eureka spokesman Gary Bird told AFP. "There were no reports of major injuries. Just scrapes and bumps."

Engineers were working to assess damages and secure properties. A city building was evacuated Saturday and several others could present hazards.

Some windows were shattered, shops were littered with toppled shelves and fallen objects strewn across the floor, while some ceilings cracked or crumbled under the shock.

Some 25,000 people lost power in the region, but everything returned to normal early Sunday.

David Eisenhauer, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric, which services the region, said "electricity was restored for all our customers."

A dozen aftershocks were felt overnight close to the quake's epicenter, including one measuring 4.1 on the open-ended Moment Magnitude Scale.

The temblor occurred in an area known to seismologists as the Mendocino Triple Junction, where three tectonic plates meet and cause frequent seismic events.

It was the strongest in northern California since the earthquakes of 2005 and 1992, both of which measured 7.2.

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