Tsunami heads for Hawaii after huge B.C. quake

[Asrokhel]

Well, at least it's not the subduction zone quake that'll eventually hit the west coast, because that one may destroy a lot of the cities/towns when it finally happens again as it has done in the past, although the last time it happened there were no cities/towns there.

No injuries or damage have been reported

A tsunami warning has been issued for coastal British Columbia following a magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck near Haida Gwaii on Saturday night, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The quake was felt across a wide area that includes Prince Rupert, Quesnel and Houston.

The tsunami warning included an area from the north tip of Vancouver Island to Alaska, but so far there have been no reports of damage.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was the possibility of ?widespread dangerous coastal flooding accompanied by powerful currents.?

The quake was centred 198 kilometres south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 10 km, the USGS said.

?A major earthquake occurred in the Haida Gwaii region (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands). 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,? Natural Resources Canada said in a statement issued Saturday night.

More to come.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...e-reported.html

[*RedBull*]

People in Hawaii are on edge waiting for a tsunami to hit that could devastate Hawaii. Still expecting severe wave damage. News updates are coming.

I'm scared tonight I might not survive.

I mean not without another cup of coffee or two.

Seriously though the ocean has dropped 4 ft in some places according to eyewitness reports

[Asrokhel]

Well, at least it's not the subduction zone quake that'll eventually hit the west coast, because that one may destroy a lot of the cities/towns when it finally happens again as it has done in the past, although the last time it happened there were no cities/towns there.

Visitors and Oahu residents in Honolu watch the water level in Ala Wai Harbour while waiting for the arrival

of a tsunami Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu.

Low-lying areas in the Hawaiian islands have been evacuated following a 7.7-earthquake that struck near Haida Gwaii, off the British Columbia coast, on Saturday night.

At least three tsunami waves were reported on B.C. coast in the hours following the quake, which struck just after 8 p.m. PT.

The waves have not caused any damage, but there have been evacuations in Haida Gwaii and Port Edward, near Prince Rupert. Officials say it's not clear how many people have been driven from their homes.

"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level," Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management said. "We're certainly grateful."

Kelly Kryzanowski of Emergency Management B.C. said an evacuation centre had been set up on Haida Gwaii.

"Power in some areas is sporadic. There are challenges with telecom. We have not had any reports of damage," Kryzanowski said.

The tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory at about 11:30 p.m. PT for the North Coast and Haida Gwaii, as well as the Central Coast including Bella Coola, Bella Bella and Shearwater.

Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69-centimetre wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. The islands are home to about 5,000 people, many of them members of the Haida aboriginal group.

Another 55-centimetre wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island, while a 12-centimetre wave was recorded in Tofino, on Vancouver Island's west coast.

"It appears to be settling down," Sinnot said. "It does not mean we won't get another small wave coming through."

Tsunami threat moves to Hawaii

As the tsunami threat diminished in B.C., attention turned to Hawaii, where the first wave is expected to hit at around 1:28 a.m. PT.

Gov. Neil Abercrombie proclaimed an emergency, mobilizing extra safety measures

The CBC's Anu Dawit-Kanna in Waikiki said the streets have been cleared.

"The horns were going off," said Dawit-Kanna. "We have been told to stay in our hotel rooms, and we happen to be on the 14th floor and our hotel is asking everyone to stay above the fourth floor."

She said restaurants are shutting down and police are getting people off the beaches. Guests in the lower floors of at least one beachside hotel are being told to get out if they can.

Public information officer John Cummins said an island-wide and state-wide evacuation was in effect.

"Our streets and highways leaving the area are backed up, so we are working with our first responders to mitigate that as quickly as possible and get our cars inland and away from the hazard and danger area."

The last tsunami siren sounded at 1:00 a.m. PT. Emergency personnel have pulled out of low lying areas and have said anyone who ignored the sirens and chose to stay in affected areas are now on their own. Honolulu police have told people stuck in their vehicles to consider evacuating on foot, as traffic jams are clogging major arteries.

Earthquake felt in cities across B.C.

The quake, which struck just after 8 p.m. PT, was felt across a wide area of north-central B.C., including Prince Rupert, Sandspit and Kitimat, and was felt as far away as Quesnel, Houston and Kamloops. It was followed by multiple aftershocks as high as 5.8 in the following minutes.

It was centred 198 kilometres south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 10 kilometres, the USGS said.

There have also been reports of people feeling the earthquake as far away as Edmonton, St. Albert and Grande Prairie, Alta. as well as the Yukon.

Natural Resources Canada seismologist John Cassidy said this type of earthquake occurs when two tectonic plates slide against one another, adding it's not the kind that usually causes substantial tsunamis.

Neil Goodwin in Sandspit felt a rolling motion Saturday evening.

"It was very fluid, I guess you could say. Everything was moving. It lasted for at least a good 30 seconds. It was difficult to stand. Definitely there was some damage that was done to people's houses here in town."

He said the whole town evacuated and left for higher ground.

"People are definitely nervous, worried about their homes. I think everyone has got out safely. We practise tsunami evacuation drills quite often here in town, so I guess it's all paid off now."

The quake felt much stronger to Dave Martynuik in Queen Charlotte.

"The whole house was just shaking, pictures on the walls," said Martynuik. "[My son], he was stabilizing the bookshelves ?and the windows, everything was just creaking."

"We have two cats and one cat was deliberately throwing herself at the door to get herself out. It was just pure hell there for a while."

Canada's largest earthquake since 1700 was an 8.1 magnitude quake on Aug. 22, 1949 off the B.C. coast of , according to the Natural Resources website. It occurred on the Queen Charlotte Fault in what the department called Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas Fault ? the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates that runs underwater along the west coast of Haida Gwaii.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/10/27/bc-quake-reported.html

[*RedBull*]

Yeah nothing really happened.

[Asrokhel]

Wait until the major subduction zone quake hits, the last one ended up sending a tsunami towards Japan, etc. Of course if another one hits, they think it'll be even bigger & more devastating than the last one, because of all the cities/towns along the west coast.

[Growled Member]

Yeah nothing really happened.

Maybe nothing really well. You can but pray.

[Asrokhel]

No injuries or major damage reported in tsunami-ready British Columbia, Hawaii

A 6.3-magnitude aftershock struck off the coast of B.C.'s Haida Gwaii islands Sunday morning ? less than 24 hours after Canada's strongest earthquake in more than 60 years hit the same area.

Officials said the temblor hit 64 kilometres southwest of Sandspit at a depth of 19 kilometres just before noon Sunday. A tweet from Emergency Information B.C. said no tsunami alerts were issued.

Erin Wilson, who lives in Skidegate, B.C., was speaking to the CBC News as the tremor shook.

"It's non-stop," she said. "You hear things creaking and cracking and you hear ? oh, another one right now. It's pretty scary."

More than 30 aftershocks have hit the area after a magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck Saturday evening, and several of the aftershocks measured at least 4 in magnitude.

The initial quake triggered tsunami warnings from the Washington border to Vancouver Island and as far away as Hawaii. But the warnings were cancelled early Sunday, several hours after they were issued.

Saturday's quake struck at 8:04 p.m. PT and was also centered off Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands. Some residents reported feeling the quake as far away as Edmonton and Yukon.

Residents near the centre of the quake said the violent jolting from the initial tremor lasted for up to a minute, but no injuries or major damage have been reported.

The quake shook homes in several B.C. communities, including Sandspit, Masset, Terrace, Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Prince George and Quesnel. Residents of Haida Gwaii reported a 90-minute power failure.

"I thought right away, we're having a big landslide," said Dave Martinek, who lives in Queen Charlotte City on the island.

"And then it progressed and kept on progressing, and the whole house was just shaking ? pictures on the walls.

"I got my son, who was having a nap. He was stabilizing the book shelves. The windows and everything were just creaking," he said. "It was just pure hell there for a while."

Masset fire Chief Stephen Grosse described a frightening night.

"I felt the quake start, and I just yelled to my wife, 'We're having an earthquake.' This one didn't seem to want to stop, it just seemed to get more and more intense," he said.

"The intensity of it ? it just kept going. We had lamps in the house fall over, the chandelier we've got in the kitchen was just swaying. You could barely stand. I've never been more scared in my life."

Tsunami warnings were issued for the North Coast, the Haida Gwaii islands, parts of the central B.C. coast, the coast of Alaska and for the Hawaiian islands.

Early Sunday morning, the warnings in both B.C. and Hawaii were downgraded to advisory status, meaning evacuations were no longer necessary, and they were cancelled altogether a few hours later.

Much of the B.C. coast, including the northern and southern ends of Vancouver Island, remained under an advisory overnight Sunday, indicating a tsunami could produce strong currents that would be dangerous to those near the water.

"We're very very grateful and thankful that we can go home tonight, counting our blessings," Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie told reporters after the tsunami warnings was downgraded.

"The water is still treacherous, still dangerous, and the beaches still need caution, but we can go home."

'Very grateful'

Hours after the earthquake, Dennis Sinnott, who works at the Institute of Ocean Sciences, said the largest wave hit Langara Island, a northern Haida Gwaii island, and measured just 69 centimetres.

There were evacuations in Haida Gwaii and Port Edward, near Prince Rupert.

"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level," Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management said. "We're certainly grateful."

There have been concerns that the B.C. government wasn't quick enough to release information about the quake.

Bond says she's pleased with the response ? but added there will be a review.

"I think we sometimes become complacent, but I should say that last night I don't think anyone was complacent," she said.

"People were moving quickly, they were supporting one another ... My job is to ensure that we're doing it as well as possible so we'll debrief about how we responded and what we can do better."

Low-lying areas in the Hawaiian islands were evacuated late Saturday. Geophysicists had feared waves between 1 and 1.9 metres to hit the Hawaii islands, beginning about 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday (4:30 a.m. ET Sunday ET). But Hawaii seems to have been spared the worst.

Four waves about 12 minutes apart have already come ashore, but seismologists say they were smaller than expected.

Sirens sounded every half hour, starting around 7:30 p.m. local time, warning of a tsunami approaching Hawaii. The Honolulu police ordered the streets evacuated and shops closed. Tourists in beachfront hotels were told to stay above the fourth floors.

Earth plates in quake zone slide horizontally

Brent Ward, an earth scientist at Simon Fraser University, said the earthquake was the second largest to hit the country since 1949, when another earthquake was recorded in the same area with a magnitude of 8.1.

Ward said the area is known as the Queen Charlotte fault, where the earth's plates slide horizontally across each other in a strike-slip action, similar to what happens along California's San Andreas fault.

"Stresses build up because of that movement, and every so often we get the release of that stress in the form of an earthquake."

Ward said he wasn't surprised the tsunami warning was short-lived because the strike-slip movement along the fault doesn't generally trigger tsunamis.

"To trigger a tsunami you need to have a vertical movement of the sea floor, and it's that vertical movement that displaces water and triggers the tsunami," he said. "Because it's sliding across each other, you're not generally moving the water."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/10/28/bc-quake.html

[*RedBull*]

LOL so Nothing big hit Hawaii. Post some more stuff I'm not gonna read.