6.4 magnitude quake shakes southwest B.C.

A major earthquake that rumbled across Vancouver Island was felt as far away as B.C.'s Okanagan Valley to the east and Seattle to the south, but caused no injuries and apparently little damage when it hit midday Friday. The estimated 6.4-magnitude tremor occurred at 12:41 p.m. PT, with an epicentre about 50 kilometres off the west coast of the island, about 300 kilometres west of Vancouver. Initial reports estimated the quake was as large as magnitude 6.8, but those estimates were later downgraded No tsunami warning was issued. From our readers "Staff felt the earthquake in my shop in Gibsons Landing, B.C., on the Sunshine Coast. Didn't know what was happening; crystals on the chandeliers shook and swayed, ceiling fixtures moved and felt it in the floor as well." - Nancy Hache “We sure felt it at our house, we are located at Parksville/ Nanoose Bay area [on] Vancouver Island. Computer chair swayed and monitor was shaking." - Leila Owens "I looked out the window down below to King George Boulevard [in Surrey] and felt very unstable, scared as the building moved inches." - Nina Kabatoff Honn Kao, a research scientist at the Pacific Geosciences Centre in Victoria, said the tremor was significant but not large enough to present a danger in the ocean.. "Usually if the earthquake is bigger than magnitude 7, then there will certainly be a possibility that a significant tsunami can be generated," said Kao. "For an earthquake with this kind of magnitude ... although the possibility is still there ... we don't think the threat can be as devastating as those big ones." Perry Schmunk, who runs the Long Beach Lodge near popular tourist destination Tofino, was standing on the beach and said the sand shifting suddenly under his feet felt like standing on a waterbed. "It shook — not violently, but it started rolling significantly for about half a minute. It went on for quite a while." Tofino is the closest community to the epicentre.