5 Earthquakes Hit Off the Coast of Oregon: USGS

Several moderate earthquakes struck about 100 miles off the coast of southern Oregon in the past 24 hours, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The largest of the quakes was a 4.5 on the Richter scale.

The five quakes occurred on Thursday night and Friday morning. Four of the quakes hit from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time. The 4.5 magnitude tremor struck at 9:22 p.m. and was located 112 miles from Port Orford, said the USGS.

There were no reports of damage or injuries.

Quakes of magnitude-4.0 or higher are felt by humans and can cause damage, said the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network.

Several moderate earthquakes struck about 100 miles off the coast of southern Oregon in the past 24 hours, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

“The change in the amount energy released from one magnitude to the next is greater as the earthquake magnitude increases. For example, the difference in amount of energy released from a magnitude 5 to a magnitude 10 is not double, it is 30 million times as much!” writes the group.

Several weeks ago and hundreds of miles to the north, three strong earthquakes hit off the coast of British Columbia. The tremors were centered in the Pacific Ocean.

Geophysicist Amy Vaughan told The Associated Press that there may have been some other aftershocks. Vaughan says the quakes were felt onshore. No injuries were reported, she said at the time.

‘Big One’

Earlier this year, a report said that a 9.0 earthquake could hit off the West Coast of Canada, which could kill thousands of people and trigger massive tsunami waves around the West Coast of North America. What’s more, the waves could even make it to Japan. It’s only a matter of time, they suggested

“It’s difficult to predict when it will happen again. We do know it’s occurred about 20 times in the past 10,000 years,” Dr. John Clague, an earth sciences professor at Simon Fraser University, told GlobalNews.

The report made reference to a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit close to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the year 1700. The quake caused a tsunami that affected the east coast of Japan, and several Native American tribes in the region have oral traditions that speak about a giant earthquake as well as a tsunami-like flooding event along the West Coast.

“This geologically active region, the Cascadia Subduction Zone, not only hosts erupting volcanoes but also produces megathrust earthquakes capable of generating devastating, ocean-crossing tsunamis. By comparing the tree rings of dead trees with those still living they could tell when the last of these great earthquakes struck the region. The trees all died in the winter of 1699-1700 when the coasts of northern California, Oregon, and Washington suddenly dropped 1-2 m (3-6 feet), flooding them with seawater,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center wrote.