6/14/2005 at 10:08pm
tuesday
June 14 (Bloomberg) -- A tsunami warning was canceled for the U.S. West Coast after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of California, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in an e-mailed alert.
A tsunami warning was previously issued for the coastal areas of the California-Mexico border to the northern tip of Vancouver, British Columbia, the West Coast Tsunami Warning Center said on its Web site. A warning indicated that coastal locations in the warned area should be prepared for flooding, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The first earthquake, measuring a 7.4 on the Richter scale, struck at 6:50 p.m. San Francisco time, centering 90 miles northwest of Eureka, California. A second earthquake measuring a 5.1 hit over land at 7:57 p.m. 92 miles northeast of San Francisco.
No tsunami waves had been reported on the Northern California coast as of 8:45 p.m. local time, according to Tsunami Center geophysicist Bruce Turner. If a tsunami was created, the first waves would have hit Crescent City, California at 8:29 p.m. local time, according to a Tsunami Center bulletin estimate.
There was no threat of a tsunami at other areas of the Pacific Basin, the center said.
``This is a fairly small earthquake for a tsunami,'' Turner said, adding that it is standard procedure to issue a warning is a tsunami is possible. ``Right now, we're checking the coast for tide gages.''
A tsunami watch for the coastal areas of Vancouver to Sitka, a town of southeast Alaska was also canceled. A tsunami watch means a tsunami has not been confirmed, though a recent earthquake may have generated large waves that could affect the area.
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some links for today:
usgs map
