Earthquakes

A powerful earthquake centered near the resort of Huatulco in southern Mexico swayed buildings Tuesday in Mexico City and sent thousands into the streets.

An underwater earthquake with an initial 5.9 magnitude has struck off the southern Oregon coast.

SEATTLE -- What if there was a way to get an early warning that an earthquake is coming?

It’s a relatively recent discovery in geophysics and not fully understood.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck off the Oregon coast Wednesday morning.

SEATTLE -- A 4.6 magnitude earthquake rattled Western Washing Friday morning.

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. -- A series of small earthquakes have been recorded near Mount Hood this week.The U.S. Geological Survey said that the earthquake swarm started Monday and that as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, more than 30 had occurred.The quakes are probably too small to be felt, with a maximum magnitude of 2.1, the USGS said.The earthquakes were about 2 to 3 miles deep and happened about 5 miles south of the Mount Hood summit and about a mile east-northeast of Government Camp, according to the USGS.

SEATTLE —  When the big one hits, Washington wants to be ready.

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state's first statewide inventory of buildings prone to crumble or collapse in an earthquake has found there are thousands of unreinforced masonry buildings or URM that could be dangerous.The Department of Commerce reports that the survey combined various databases of historic structures as well as commercial, government and apartment buildings completed before 1958.

Three powerful earthquakes struck off the coast of British Columbia Sunday night within an hour. 

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake rattled a wide area of Southern California on Tuesday night. But there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake struck the Aleutian Islands Wednesday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Alaska's North Slope was hit Sunday by the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the region, the state's seismologist said.

FIFE, Wash. -- Scientists from the state Department of Natural Resources are performing tests across Washington to see how schools would handle an earthquake.On Thursday, DNR officials lined the fields outside of Fife High School with scientific readers to measure seismic waves.“When we have our next big earthquake, not if, but when, we should all know if the building that we’re in, the house we’re in, the school we’re in is built and is capable of withstanding that earthquake,” said Corina Forson, chief hazards geologists for the Department of Natural Resources.She and a team of geologists are going to schools across the state of Washington that were built before 2003, when the current building codes were instated.Her team is testing how hard or soft the ground is.The way they do this is by placing readers along the ground, and then use a sledge hammer to create seismic waves.Geologist say earthquakes will affect structures on softer ground much more than on harder ground.Inside the schools, engineers are testing to see the effect an earthquake would have on the building.“A lot of the reason a lot of us going into engineering is to protect the public,” said Dave Swanson, a structural engineer with Reid Middleton.

A powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, killing at least 82 people and shaking neighboring Bali, one week after another quake on Lombok killed more than a dozen.

SEATTLE -- Washington state is taking another major step forward in earthquake preparedness, by creating a new tool to help identify vulnerable structures statewide.The old Cadillac Hotel suffered major damage after the Nisqually quake in 2001.

The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed the earthquake hit about 4 miles southwest of Silverton at 8:45 p.m. Saturday.

A magnitude-5.3 earthquake struck Thursday afternoon under the ocean off Southern California and was felt widely along the mainland coast, but there were no immediate reports of damage or a tsunami warning.