7-plus magnitude quake hits Canada's British Columbia

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Sun, Oct 28 00:18 AM EDT (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude hit Canada's Pacific coast province of British Columbia late Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported But there were no immediate reports of damage. The quake was centered 123 miles south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 6.2 miles, the USGS said. Earthquakes Canada said it detected a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Haida Gwaii region, placing it 43 miles west-southwest of Queen Charlotte City. "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," the agency said in a statement on its website. The quake was not felt in the larger cities of Victoria and Vancouver in the south, a resident in each city told Reuters. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive tsunami was expected from the quake but the West Coast-Alaska Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for coastal sections of British Columbia and Alaska. (Reporting by Will Dunham; With additional reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson, Nicole Mordant and Jennifer Kwan) ============== Earthquake kills five in eastern Iran LAST UPDATE Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:11:48 GMT At least five people have been killed and several others injured in a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that struck eastern Iran, near the Afghan border. The tremor hit the province of South Khorasan at 20:38 local time (17:08 GMT) on Wednesday. The epicenter of the quake was 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the town of Zohan, at a depth of nine kilometers, the Iranian Seismological Center said on its website. "Based on the latest reports from the scene, the quake killed five people and injured 12 others," South Khorasan Crisis Management Headquarters Director Mohammad Ali Akhoundi told Mehr news agency. Javad Heravi, who represents the province in the Iranian parliament, said that the quake caused damage to rural buildings and cut power lines and telephone communication. Iran is located on seismic fault lines and is prone to earthquakes, experiencing at least one small tremor per day on average. More than 300 people died and over 3,000 others injured in two powerful earthquakes and subsequent aftershocks that rocked the country’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan in August. In December 2003, about 27,000 people were killed and 30,000 others injured when a 6.6-magnitude earthquake shook the historic city of Bam in southeastern Iran. The deadliest earthquake in modern Iranian history was a 7.4-magnitude tremor that occurred on June 21, 1990 and affected Gilan and Zanjan provinces. About 40,000 people were killed, 60,000 others were injured, and around 100,000 adobe houses sustained major damage or collapsed. ========================= Quake measuring 7.7 strikes in Pacific off Alaska Sat, Jan 05 04:25 AM EST (Reuters) - An earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles southwest of Port Alexander in Alaska on Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake struck at a depth of about 6 miles at 0858 GMT, the survey said. (Reporting By Pravin Char; Editing by Angus MacSwan)