Powerful quake hits off California coast: USGS

In all the jubilation last night following the capture of the 19 year terrorism suspect, virtually everyone missed news that a massive 7.0 magnitude quake according to the China Earthquake Administration (and 6.6 according to the USGS including countless aftershocks) hit China's Sichuan province, leaving at least 156 dead and over 2200 injured according to the latest estimate from Xinhua.

A strong earthquake centered in the southern state of Oaxaca shook Mexico early Wednesday, the US and Mexican earthquake monitors reported.The quake, which struck at 2:22 am (0722 GMT), lasted around half a minute and was powerful enough to shake buildings in Mexico City, AFP correspondents reported.Both Mexico's Seismological Institute and the US Geological Survey said the quake measured 6.5 on the moment magnitude scale, though the USGS later revised down the quake's strength to magnitude 6.2.

BEIJING — A powerful earthquake struck the steep hills of China’s southwestern Sichuan province on Saturday, leaving at least 156 people dead and more than 5,500 injured, nearly five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region.

VANCOUVER — A third minor earthquake has struck off the north B.C. coast, the latest in a series that has rattled the area since last fall. The West Coast-Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre in Palmer, Alaska, says the third quake hit at 7:28 p.m. Thursday, 72 kilometres south of Sandspit on the Haida Gwaii islands. The centre says quakes with magnitudes of 4.6 and 4.3 struck about 75 kilometres south and 97 kilometres southwest of Sandspit just hours earlier. The centre says there was no tsunami danger from any of the quakes.

A quake measuring 7.0 on the moment magnitude scale rocked the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti Tuesday causing panic as it struck, officials and AFP witnesses said.A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the Caribbean region after the earthquake struck at 2153 GMT. An AFP correspondent said it lasted more than a minute.The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake was initially measured at 7.3 on the scale and struck 14 kilometres (nine miles) from the city of Carrefour, and 27 kilometers (17 miles) from Petionville.

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake was detected Sunday in the Pacific near the central coast of Chile, US authorities said, noting the risk of local -- but not widespread -- tsunamis.The US Geological Survey said the earthquake occurred at 2020 GMT, offshore the Bio-bio region in central Chile, a region struck by a massive 8.8 earthquake in February 2010.It occurred at a depth of 33 kilometers (20.5 miles)"No destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data," the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin.

A powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Mexico near the Mexico-US border rocked buildings as far away as Los Angeles, and was felt in a wide area in the two countries, officials said.Mexican officials reported some minor injuries and damage to buildings in Mexicali, a border city near the epicenter.The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake, which struck at 3:40 pm (2240 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles) was located 26 kilometers (16 miles) south-southwest of Guadalupe Victoria, Baja California, Mexico.

A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific Ocean off the coast of central Chile early Saturday and US authorities warned it could generate a tsunami.The epicenter of the tremor, which hit at 3:34 am local time (0634 GMT), was 100 kilometers (60 miles) north northwest of the Chilean town of Chillan, the US Geological Survey said.It was 105 kilometers (65 miles) west southwest of Chile's city of Talca and 115 kilometers (70 miles) north northeast of Concepcion, it said.