UPDATE: 1:15 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO >> A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7 hit off the coast of a sparsely populated area of northern California today, prompting coastal towns to evacuate low-lying areas amid a tsunami warning that was later canceled.

There were no reports of injuries of major damage, though authorities said they needed time to check across the impacted area.

The National Weather Service said that the tsunami warning that extended along 500 miles of the California and Oregon coasts was called off about 90 minutes after the earthquake struck at 10:44 a.m. Pacific Time (8:44 a.m. Hawaii time). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake post no tsunami threat to Hawaii.

The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles, was centered about 39 miles west of the town of Ferndale, a sparsely populated portion of the northern California coast, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

In Ferndale, a town of about 1,400 people, residents and business owners were cleaning up broken crockery and merchandise after the quake struck.

“It was a big quake, it made you evacuate the building as fast as you could,” said Troy Land, a member of the Ferndale’s Volunteer Fire Department, who also owns a hardware store and said lumber and cans of paint went tumbling across the shop’s floor.

Just north of Ferndale in Eureka, a coastal community in Humboldt County, fire department official Talia Flores said there were no injuries or major structural damage reported, though some stores lost merchandise off the shelves.

In San Francisco, where the quake was not felt, hospitality worker Nicole Steinberg, 25, said she was grabbing a coffee when an alert about the possible tsunami was sent to her phone, along with all the other patrons around her.

“I got a call from dad asking me to find higher ground immediately,” Steinberg said. “But no one else was freaking out too much. I took a while to decide whether to go back to the office or not. I decided to go to the Salesforce Park, which is higher up, and I waited there for an update.”

Some 4.7 million residents of California and Oregon had been under the tsunami warning before it was canceled, the National Weather Service said.

The City of Berkeley Police Department issued an evacuation order for parts of the city on the San Francisco Bay, but later sent an alert to residents saying that “no tsunami danger presently exists.”

In northern California, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office downgraded its evacuation warning for a tsunami to “situational awareness” in low-lying areas.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he was concerned about damage in northern California, and that he had signed a state of emergency declaration that would facilitate assistance for the impacted areas.

10 a.m.

The tsunami warning for the coastal areas of California and Oregon has been canceled by the National Tsunami Center.

The center said, “No destructive tsunami has been recorded. No tsunami danger exists for the U.S. west coast, British Columbia and Alaska.”

The warning had been issued after a magnitude 7.0 quake struck off the Norther California coast. The quake posed no tsunami threat to Hawaii.

During the regional warning, the Berkeley, Calif., police department issued an evacuation order for parts of the city on the San Francisco Bay “due to a Tsunami coming to West Berkeley,” according to an alert sent to residents.

About 19,000 clients were without power in Humboldt County, according to data from PowerOutage.us.

The office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on social media that he “is now meeting with state emergency officials and working to ensure Californians are safe.”

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A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California this morning but did not post a tsunami threat to Hawaii, officials said.

“A tsunami threat exists for parts of the Pacific located closer to the earthquake. However, based on all available data, there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an alert.

The National Tsunami Center issued a warning for a long stretch of the U.S. West Coast, from Dunes City, Oregon, south to San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., 400 miles away. About 5.3 people are in the tsunami warning area, which also includes San Francisco and a large area of the surrounding Bay Area.

The powerful quake stuck at 8:44 a.m. and was centered about 67 miles west-northwest of Ferndale, Calif., a sparsely populated portion of the Northern California coast, at a depth of about 6 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake was followed by several strong aftershocks.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser staff contributed to this report.