PORTLAND — A pair of moderate earthquakes shook the coast of Northern California and Southwest Oregon late Saturday and Sunday morning.
According to the United States Geological Survey, a 5.0 earthquake occurred at 10:01 p.m. Saturday in the Pacific Ocean about 93 miles southwest of Gold Beach, Ore., or about 124 miles to the Northwest of Eureka, Calif.
The quake was followed by a 4.6 earthquake that hit at 2:50 a.m. Sunday off the Oregon Coast approximately 97 miles west of Brookings.
Neither earthquake prompted tsunami advisories from the National Tsunami Warning Center.
Any earthquake off the Pacific Northwest coast rattles nerves, particularly following research this summer that indicates that a major earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction zone is more likely to occur than scientists previously thought. The subduction zone runs from northern California to British Columbia, and a major earthquake in the zone could cause serious damage and loss of life throughout the Northwest. Last year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning feature by Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker highlighted the dangers.
