At least two people have died after a strong earthquake shook coastal cities in central and southern California. Buildings from San Francisco to Los Angeles swayed in the quake, recorded at a magnitude of 6.5. Two women were crushed to death by falling debris in the wine-making town of Paso Robles, about 20 miles (32 kilometres) east of the epicentre. The quake, which was followed by dozens of aftershocks, knocked out electrical power supplied to about 40,000 people. The women, one aged 55 and the other 19-years-old, died when the Paso Robles' 19th Century clocktower building collapsed. "We have reports of two deaths attributed to the quake and have no reason to believe that anyone is still trapped in the building that collapsed," said California Highway Patrol spokesman Office Scott Lee. Earlier, authorities had said that three people were believed dead. "The whole town shook and the building came down. It was horrible," said hotel worker Brandy Wilson. The town suffered extensive damage, with buildings more than a century old bearing the brunt of the damage. Built in the 1880s, they were made of brick and wood and had not been reinforced to protect them from earthquakes, says the BBC's Peter Bowes in California. The quake also struck a tourist area in the town of San Simeon, shaking the castle of US press baron William Randolph Hearst. The building is reported to have suffered no structural damage. Tad Weber, managing editor of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, said he was in a meeting when it hit. "All of a sudden there was a jolting and we look up and see the building swaying," he told the Associated Press. "I dove under a desk to wait it out." **Lucky *** There were reports of some people injured at a winery in the area. Superintendent Pamela Martens, of the Coast Unified School District in Cambria, in the county of San Luis Obispo, said the school was closed for the holidays, but the earthquake had left "things off the shelf and all over the place. Computers are down." Our correspondent says people in Cambria, close to the epicentre, were amazed to find their homes were still intact. A spokesman for the US Geological Survey told reporters: "We have a typical 6.5 magnitude earthquake that fortunately has occurred far from densely populated areas." He said a similar-sized earthquake located under a city such as Los Angeles could have done billions of dollars worth of damage. The spokesman said the earthquake had triggered a vigorous system of smaller aftershocks but there was nothing to suggest a bigger quake was immediately expected. But he said the chances of the region experiencing a bigger earthquake in the future were now higher than before the latest earthquake struck. Earthquakes in California are not uncommon. The North Ridge Earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994 measured 6.7 and left 57 people dead and 1,500 people were injured. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The historic clock tower collapsed in Paso Robles, California December 22, 2003. A powerful quake struck central California on Monday, crushing two women to death in a cascade of rubble and causing high-rise buildings from San Francisco to Los Angeles to sway ominously.