Seismologists said on Tuesday an earthquake struck off Canada’s Pacific coast province of British Columbia.
The US Geological Survey said the 6.6-magnitude quake’s epicenter is 666km northwest of Vancouver. It was followed by a 5.7 magnitude aftershock seven minutes later.
There were no reports of damage and Prince Rupert Royal Canadian Staff Sergeant Jim Vardy said they were not expecting any because it struck about 110km southeast of the Queen Charlotte Islands under the ocean bed in a strait of water. He said there was no threat of a tsunami.
John Cassidy, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said that the area is prone to earthquakes, “but this was a big one.”
“It was felt quite strongly across the islands and many people described it as the strongest they’ve felt in several years, but this is one of the most seismically active regions in Canada and a 6.5 earthquake happens every few years,” Cassidy said.
The quake was felt over a wide area of northwestern British Columbia.
Carol Kulesha, the mayor of Queen Charlotte City, said she’d fallen asleep on her couch after watching TV when the quake hit at 7:30am.
“It woke me from a sound sleep,” she said. “It felt like I was on a train.”
Kulesha said the town’s public works staff is surveying the area to make sure no pipes have come apart. She said police and other emergency management officials have reported no damage.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of