6.0-magnitude earthquake hits the coast of Oregon (US)

on February 15, 2012 at 11:45 pm

On early Tuesday evening a strong earthquake hit the coast of Oregon, seismologists said, but there were no reports of damage or casualties and no tsunami warning was issued.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake at 7:31 p.m. local time (0331 GMT Wednesday) was centered about 256 kilometers (159 miles) west of Coos Bay, a city located in Coos County on the Pacific coast.

6.0-magnitude earthquake hits the coast of Oregon (US)

It struck about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS said it did not expect to see damage or casualties due to the earthquake’s distance from the coast, and there were no immediate reports of tremors being felt anywhere along the coast. No tsunami warning was issued by the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC).

Wednesday’s earthquake was one of the strongest earthquakes to hit off the coast of Oregon in recent years. In October 2011, a moderate 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck about 233 kilometers (144 miles) west of Coos Bay, also causing no damage or casualties.