Little damage seen from Canada quake

VANCOUVER, B.C. – A magnitude-7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major damage. Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated, but the province appeared to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles and was centered 96 miles south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.

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

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its tsunami advisory for Hawaii Sunday morning just before 4 a.m. local time, three hours after downgrading from a warning and less than six hours after the waves first hit the islands.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service canceled tsunami advisories for Canada, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.

Tsunami Warning Center officials said wave heights were diminishing in Hawaii, though swimmers and boaters should be careful of strong or unusual currents. The biggest waves – about 5 feet high – appeared to hit Maui.

There were no immediate reports of damage, though one person died in a fatal crash near a road that was closed because of the threat near Oahu’s north shore.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said the state was lucky to avoid more severe surges.

Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 27-inch 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 21-inch wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.

Canada’s largest earthquake since 1700 was an 8.1-magnitude quake on August 22, 1949, off the coast of British Columbia, according to the Canadian government’s 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 the Haida Gwaii.

In 1970 a 7.4-magnitude quake struck south of the Haida Gwaii.

The quake struck 25 miles south of Sandspit, B.C., on the Haida Gwaii archipelago.

Urs Thomas, operator of the Golden Spruce hotel in Port Clements, said there was no warning before everything began moving inside and outside the hotel. He said it lasted about three minutes.

“It was a pretty good shock,” Thomas, 59, said. “I looked at my boat outside. It was rocking. Everything was moving. My truck was moving.”

In Hawaii, the tsunami warning spurred residents to stock up on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores and sent tourists in beachside hotels to higher floors in their buildings. Bus service into Waikiki was cut off an hour before the first waves, and police in downtown Honolulu shut down a Halloween block party. In Kauai, three schools used as evacuation centers quickly filled to capacity.

In Alaska, the initial wave or surge was recorded at 4 inches, much smaller than forecast, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The first wave hit Craig about two hours after the earthquake. Surges at other Alaska communities were later recorded at 6 inches, while others were much smaller.