Earthquake In California 2024 Cause. A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 struck off the coast of northern california late thursday morning local time, according to the us geological survey. At around 10:44 pacific time on december 5, a huge earthquake struck around 60 miles off the coast of california.

The magnitude 7 quake triggered a tsunami alert for some. Luckily, the worst didn’t play out.