Earthquake strikes off Vancouver Island

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake has struck off the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, but there are no reports of injuries, damage or tsunami warnings.

Initial reports estimated the quake was as large as magnitude 6.8, but those estimates were later downgraded to 6.4.

People reported buildings swaying for several minutes from the Fraser Valley to Campbell River at about 12:41 p.m. PT.

"I was sitting at my computer when I felt a light swaying motion," Wendy Hunter, of Vancouver, said in an email to CBC News. "I’m not prone to dizzy spells, but thought I might be experiencing that until I stood up and could definitely tell things were moving ever so gently …The building didn’t make any noise, but some of my window mobiles clinked gently against the glass."

A downtown office worker had a similar experience.

"I was on the 17th floor of our office building on Burrard at Pender streets when the ceiling tiles and windows started making a crackling noise. Then the blinds started swaying and I could feel the building swaying. A co-worker and I immediately went under my desk for about two to three minutes until the floor stopped moving," said Peter Bates.

Honn Kao, a research scientist at the Pacific Geosciences Centre in Victoria, said there was no tsunami danger but people should expect aftershocks.

"Usually if the earthquake is bigger than magnitude 7 then there will certainly be a possibility that a significant tsunami can be generated. For an earthquake with this kind of magnitude ... although the possibility is still there ... we don't think the threat can be as devastating as those big ones," said Kao.

Closest community unaffected

A dispatcher for the RCMP in Tofino, the biggest community near the epicentre on the west coast of Vancouver Island, said the earthquake was barely felt there and no one had reported damage.

As a precaution, the Washington state transportation department sent inspectors to check for damage at the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an aging elevated highway on the Seattle waterfront, as well as two other bridges.

TransLink spokesman Drew Snider felt it in his office on the 17th floor of a Metrotown building in Burnaby, east of Vancouver.

"The blinds were swaying back and forth in the windows and it was really a cause for concern because it got so much more magnified by being up in the air. It continued swaying for about three minutes which was enough to make a few people nervous here," he said.

David Dickinson was watching television at home in Courtenay on the east coast of central Vancouver Island when it struck.

"I was watching the U.S. Open Tennis downstairs and while sitting on my couch I felt it beginning to move back and forth.... It didn't frighten me ... but it took my attention off the tennis match for a few minutes."

The most recent similar earthquake in the area was magnitude 6.6, which struck in November 2004.There were no injuries or damage from that temblor either.

[Source : cbc.ca]