Quake shakes Canada's west coast, no immediate damage reported

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - A major 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada at 0304 GMT on Sunday.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no "destructive widespread tsunami threat" at this time. However, the regional West Coast-Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre issued a regional warning for coasts located near the epicentre of the earthquake. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

"A 7.7 is a big, hefty earthquake. It's not something you can ignore," Mr Gerard Fryer, senior geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told CNN International. "I think we have to be thankful it happened where it did,"

"If that were a heavily populated area, it would have caused significant damage," he added.