Large earthquake, aftershock rattle corner of Canada, Alaska

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake rattled the corner of British Columbia near the boundary with southeastern Alaska early today, waking people up and setting off a series of aftershocks, including a 6.3-magnitude, the US Geological Survey said.
Agency geophysicist Amy Vaughan said it's not completely uncommon for an aftershock to be larger than the triggering quake, though normally the following quakes are smaller. Other aftershocks ranged from magnitudes 2 to 5.
They struck roughly 48 kilometres northwest of the tiny Alaska town of Mosquito Lake and about 134 kilometres southwest of Whitehorse, Canada.
Vaughan said the shallow initial quake has the potential to cause damage but that the remote location dropped the chances of major problems.

"If people were asleep, they certainly would be jarred awake by this," she said, adding that the quake also would have knocked items off shelves.
Jaimie Lawson, a 911 dispatcher with the Skagway Police Department, said the remote town 89 kilometres away did not receive any reports of damage or injuries from the initial quake.

Computers slid around in the mobile home that houses police operations in the valley town of 800, she said, and it was the first earthquake she felt that forced her to stand up to get her bearings.
She said she had spoken to police in the town of Haines about 50 kilometres south and they also had not gotten reports of injuries or damage from the first quake.

The geological survey website has recorded hundreds of reports of people feeling the tremor.