4 minor quakes shake Western U.S.

DENVER, July 1 (UPI) -- Three minor earthquakes Wednesday morning shook areas along the U.S. Pacific Coast, including Alaska, and a tremor hit Hawaii late Tuesday, officials said.

All four quakes were between magnitude 3.0 and 3.9 on the Richter scale, the U.S. Geological Survey said. That is defined as strong enough to be felt but unlikely to cause any real damage. About 49,000 quakes in that range are reported worldwide every year.

The strongest quake, 3.7, was in the Puget Sound region, about 2 miles east southeast of Coupeville, Wash., and 43 miles north northwest of Seattle.

A 3.2 magnitude quake hit in Alaska. The quake was centered on Kodiak Island, 22 miles east northeast of Kodiak and 235 miles south southwest of Anchorage.

A 3.0 quake shook the area around The Geysers, a major geothermal field in California. The quake was 1 mile northeast of The Geysers and 74 miles west northwest of Sacramento.

The Lake County News reported a stronger 3.8 quake hit the area Tuesday, with shaking widely felt by some people as far away as San Francisco and San Jose.

A 3.0 quake registered at about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in Hawaii National Park on the Big Island.