2016: String of earthquakes around the world rings in the New Year

January 2016 – GEOLOGY – A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck in the South Pacific Ocean about 650 miles (1,045 kilometers) south of the Australian island state of Tasmania, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor, which struck at about 1 p.m. Sydney time at a depth of 8 kilometers, was detected by more than 50 stations on the Australian mainland, Geoscience Australia said. No tsunami warning was issued. –Bloomberg

Canada: Authorities say a magnitude- 4.8 earthquake in Canada was widely felt across northwest Washington State, but no major damage or injuries have been reported. The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake struck around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday 11 miles northeast of Victoria, Canada. Randy Baldwin, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, says it was felt for a radius of 150 miles. He says he hasn’t heard of any major damage or recorded any aftershocks.

Tom Eades, a 911 dispatcher with the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office in Washington, says the agency received lots of calls but no reports of damage or injuries. The agency is in the San Juan Islands, between Vancouver Island in British Columbia and mainland Washington. The USGS website has recorded more than 10,000 reports of the quake being felt. –KXLY

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — A 4.2 magnitude earthquake centered north of Oklahoma City hit Friday morning, the latest in a series of quakes that’s prompted state regulators to call for more restrictions on oil and gas operators. According the U.S. Geological Survey’s website, the quake happened at 5:39 a.m. in an area 3 miles northeast of Edmond and 16 miles north-northeast of Oklahoma City. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage.

Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes magnitude 3.0 or greater skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 800 in 2015. Many of the earthquakes are occurring in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater — a by-product of oil and gas production — into the earth. –Times Union

New Zealand: An earthquake measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale jolted 122 km south of Raoul Island, New Zealand at 21:29 GMT on Thursday, the US Geological Survey said. The epicenter, with a depth of 17.96 km, was initially determined to be at 30.3739 degrees south latitude and 177.9706 degrees west longitude. –Manila Times

PESHAWAR: A mild intensity earthquake jolted the provincial capital and adjacent areas on Friday, Samaa reported. According to Seismic Monitoring Center, intensity of the quake was recorded 4.6 on the Richter scale at a depth of 178 kilometer, with its epicenter lying in Hindu Kush region.

Our correspondents say tremors were also felt in Swat valley. A strong earthquake hit most parts of Pakistan in October last year, killing over 200 people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and injuring many others. –Samaa