Magnitude-6.4 quake strikes off of Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — A magnitude-6.4 earthquake struck Friday off the coast of British Columbia, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake struck at 12:41 p.m. PDT (1941 GMT) at a depth of 14.3 miles about 173 miles west of Vancouver, the USGS said. The quake was initially reported to have a magnitude of 6.7 but was later downgraded by the USGS. The quake’s epicenter was just off the west coast of Vancouver Island, south of Port Hardy. There were no immediate reports of damage in the closest parts of Washington state, including the northern tip of the Olympic Peninsula and the San Juan Islands. A dispatcher for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Tofino, a resort town 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. According to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center no tsunami was expected.