A tsunami warning was issued late Saturday for the coastal areas of northwest British Columbia following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake off the waters near Prince Rupert. It was followed by at least aftershocks.

People in coastal areas were told to move inland to higher ground while residents in low-lying coastal areas were ordered to be on alert for instructions from their local emergency officials after the tsunami warning was issued just before 8 p.m. local time.

The epicentre was reported in coastal waters about 40 kilometres south of Sandspit, B.C. at a depth of 19 kilometres.

Natural Resources Canada issued a statement Saturday: "A major earthquake occurred in the Haida Gwaii region. It was felt across much of north-central B.C., including Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert, Quesnel and Houston. There have been no reports of damage at this time."

Event Time
2012-10-28 03:04:10 UTC
2012-10-27 20:04:10 UTC-07:00 at epicenter

Location
52.769°N 131.927°W depth=17.5km (10.9mi)

Nearby Cities
139km (86mi) S of Masset, Canada
202km (126mi) SSW of Prince Rupert, Canada
293km (182mi) SW of Terrace, Canada
556km (345mi) NW of Campbell River, Canada
635km (395mi) SSE of Juneau, Alaska

Technical Details

Yellow alert level for economic losses. Some damage is possible and the impact should be relatively localized. Estimated economic losses are less than 1% of GDP of Canada. Past events with this alert level have required a local or regional level response.

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT WHICH INCLUDES THE COASTAL AREAS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA FROM THE NORTH TIP OF VANCOUVER ISLAND BRITISH COLUMBIA TO CAPE DECISION ALASKA/LOCATED 85 MILES SE OF SITKA/...

...THIS MESSAGE IS INFORMATION ONLY FOR COASTAL AREAS OF CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON AND BRITISH COLUMBIA FROM THE CALIFORNIA-MEXICO BORDER TO THE NORTH TIP OF VANCOUVER ISLAND BRITISH COLUMBIA...

..THIS MESSAGE IS INFORMATION ONLY FOR COASTAL AREAS OF ALASKA FROM CAPE DECISION ALASKA/LOCATED 85 MILES SE OF SITKA/ TO ATTU ALASKA...

A TSUNAMI WARNING MEANS... ALL COASTAL RESIDENTS IN THE WARNING AREA WHO ARE NEAR THE BEACH OR IN LOW-LYING REGIONS SHOULD MOVE IMMEDIATELY INLAND TO HIGHER GROUND AND AWAY FROM ALL HARBORS AND INLETS INCLUDING THOSE SHELTERED DIRECTLY FROM THE SEA. THOSE FEELING THE EARTH SHAKE... SEEING UNUSUAL WAVE ACTION... OR THE WATER LEVEL RISING OR RECEDING MAY HAVE ONLY A FEW MINUTES BEFORE THE TSUNAMI ARRIVAL AND SHOULD MOVE IMMEDIATELY. HOMES AND SMALL BUILDINGS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO WITHSTAND TSUNAMI IMPACTS. DO NOT STAY IN THESE STRUCTURES.

ALL RESIDENTS WITHIN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD BE ALERT FOR INSTRUCTIONS BROADCAST FROM THEIR LOCAL CIVIL AUTHORITIES. EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE ARE KNOWN TO GENERATE TSUNAMIS.

AT 804 PM PACIFIC DAYLIGHT TIME ON OCTOBER 27 AN EARTHQUAKE WITH PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE 7.1 OCCURRED 25 MILES/40 KM SOUTH OF SANDSPIT BRITISH COLUMBIA. EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE ARE KNOWN TO GENERATE TSUNAMIS. IF A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED THE WAVES WILL FIRST REACH LANGARA ISLAND BRITISH COLUMBIA AT 916 PM PDT ON OCTOBER 27. ESTIMATED TSUNAMI ARRIVAL TIMES AND MAPS ALONG WITH SAFETY RULES AND OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE WEB SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

A minor earthquake is being blamed for causing a loud boom noise that was heard and felt in Niagara County early Friday morning. The U-S Geological Survey is confirming a 2 point 5 magnitude earthquake just outside of Olcott before one A-M this morning. They speculate that low-depth earthquakes can cause a loud noise especially in the Northeast United State.

We received word from viewers early this morning who heard the loud sound they say felt like an explosion around 1 a.m. Friday in Barker, Somerset, Olcott, and Newfane. There were even reports of some residents in Canada hearing and feeling it. Some thought that it may have been caused by a plane at the Niagara Falls Air Base, but the Base tells us that they don't own any planes or equipment capable of creating a sonic boom. The FAA also confirms that there were no aircraft in the area around that time.

Event Time:
2012-10-25 23:05:26 UTC

Location:
39.855°N 16.044°E depth=3.8km (2.4mi)

Nearby Cities:
6km (4mi) SE of Mormanno, Italy
14km (9mi) WNW of Castrovillari, Italy
21km (13mi) ENE of Scalea, Italy
24km (15mi) WNW of Cassano al Ionio, Italy
358km (222mi) WSW of Tirana, Albania

One person has died and buildings were damaged after a powerful, 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit southern Italy in the middle of the night on Friday. An 84-year-old man died of a heart attack when the quake struck the province of Cosenza in the southern region of Calabria, Italy.The quake struck at 3.15am (0115 GMT), when most people were asleep in bed. Many people spent the rest of the night outdoors, afraid to return to their homes."I got up, it was the middle of the night, and ran out into the street. Outside there were lots of people and there was rubble all over the ground," Vincenzo Alberti, who lives in Mormanno, told Corriere della Sera.A hospital in the small town of Mormanno was evacuated after cracks emerged and many homes were damaged.

Event Time
2012-10-21 01:25:22 UTC+00:00 at epicenter

Location
66.296°N 18.685°W depth=9.9km (6.2mi)

Nearby Cities
18km (11mi) NNE of Siglufjordur, Iceland
73km (45mi) NNW of Akureyri, Iceland
283km (176mi) NNE of Reykjavik, Iceland
286km (178mi) NNE of Kopavogur, Iceland
291km (181mi) NNE of Hafnarfjordur, Iceland

Icelandic authorities warned people in the north of the island on Thursday to prepare for a possible big earthquake after the biggest tremors in the area for 20 years. The north Atlantic island, where almost 320,000 people live, is a hotspot of volcanic and seismic activity as it straddles a fault in the earth's surface.

The Civil Protection Department said in a statement that recent small quakes in an area under the sea about 20 km (12 miles) off the north of Iceland had prompted it to issue a warning to local people. It said such shocks, one of which was a magnitude 5.6, often led to stronger quakes. Warnings were issued when there were grounds to expect a natural or manmade event that could threaten health and human safety, it added.

"People are anxious because they don't know what might happen," said Amundi Gunnarsson, chief of the fire brigade in Fjallabyggd, one of the small towns in the area, and a member of the Civil Protection Department. "At the same time, life goes on as usual. People are going to work and children are going to school, but everyone is on alert," he told Reuters by telephone.

A sharp tremor was recorded by USGS monitors just after 9 p.m. Wednesday at the site of the giant Louisiana sinkhole in Assumption Parish. The giant sinkhole appeared in August near the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas.The Assumption Parish Police Jury says the tremor was large enough that the body wave phases could easily be identified. A body wave travels through the interior of the earth.
The preliminary location of the tremor was just SE of Oxy #3 cavern at a depth of 500m. There is no additional information specific to this seismic activity at this time. The sinkhole is now about four acres in size. Residents were forced from their homes on August third, two months after the bayous started bubbling. They are still evacuated from their homes.

An earthquake, the strongest since 1957, occurred last night in Quang Nam Province's Bac Tra My District, where the Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant is located, panicking thousands of local residents.

A series of tremors measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale broke out in the district at 9:42 pm Monday and lasted for about three seconds, said Le Van Tuan, chief of the district People's Committee's Secretariat.

Thousands of locals rushed out of their houses in panic after they heard loud blasts and felt the ground shaking, houses' walls cracking, and things inside the houses falling, Tuan said.
"Many items on a table in my house fell down to the floor and my children cried and screamed when hearing explosions that sounded like the sounds of bombings," he said.