No tsunami threat to B.C. after powerful earthquake off California

Emergency management officials say there is no tsunami threat to British Columbia after a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off California on Thursday morning.

EmergencyInfoBC said it was evaluating for potential threats after the U.S. National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for the Northern California and Oregon coasts just before 11 a.m.

The large earthquake was detected southwest of Eureka, Calif., where thousands of people across the region reported feeling the quake at approximately 10:44 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The U.S. National Weather Service urged residents along the Northern California coastline to move inland due to the threat until the warning was cancelled just before noon.

The shaking was felt as far south as San Francisco, where residents felt a rolling motion for several seconds, followed by smaller aftershocks, the Associated Press reports.

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system halted all traffic through an underwater tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland in response to the warning, according to the report.

More than five million California residents were under the tsunami warning, the U.S. Geological Survey said in a yellow alert, which predicted localized but minimal damage from the event. The warning for the region was cancelled at approximately 11:54 a.m.

"The risk to B.C. is currently being evaluated," EmergencyInfoBC said in a bulletin issued at 11:30 a.m. before declaring there was no tsunami threat to the province at 11:57 a.m.