Russian quake causes false alarm in Washington

Never mind.

At 3 a.m. Thursday morning, Grays Harbor County Emergency management was notified of a 3.0 magnitude earthquake 34 miles north of Aberdeen and 35 miles deep underground.

But a little while later, the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network “cancelled” the notification.

The waves from a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that occurred in the Kuril Islands of Russia were transmitted through the earth’s crust and that “fooled a sensor off the coast of Washington,” according to the Seismic Network.

The sensor’s false reading led to an automated alert from Emergency Management. Once the findings were reviewed by a seismologist, it was determined that the event was “essentially a false alarm,” according to the PNSN.

Many people around Grays Harbor posted to social media after the first notice went out saying they thought they felt or heard something. Some of the posts came after the county’s update. on the cancellation.