A 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska near midnight on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, prompting tsunami warnings and advisories down the coast of Alaska and Canada's British Columbia.

All tsunami warnings, watches and advisories were later canceled, the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) said.

The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said the waves were too small to pose a threat, reaching just six inches above normal sea level in places such as Sitka and Port Alexander.

"Initially, in the first 15 to 20 minutes, there might have been a bit of panic," Sitka Police Chief Sheldon Schmitt told The Associated Press. But he said things calmed down as the town waited for the all clear and the tsunami warning was canceled by 2 a.m., according to the Daily Sitka Sentinel.

Residents of Sitka gathered at the high school early Saturday, bundled up with pillows in tow, waiting for more information.

The quake struck in the Pacific Ocean about 60 miles southwest of Port Alexander, Alaska, at a depth of about 6 miles at 11:58 p.m. local time (3:58 a.m. ET), the USGS said.

Initially, the USGS reported that the temblor had a magnitude of 7.7, but it later downgraded the quake's strength to 7.5.

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A 6-inch rise in sea level was reported in Port Alexander, but there were no early reports of damage.

A tsunami warning was issued for the coastal areas of British Columbia from the north tip of Vancouver Island to Cape Suckling, but it was later canceled.

"A tsunami was generated by this event but does not pose a threat to these areas," NOAA said in a statement. "Some areas may see small sea level changes. The decision to re-occupy hazard zones must be made by local authorities."

The NOAA also issued tsunami advisories from the Washington state-British Columbia border to the north tip of Vancouver Island. They were later canceled.

According to the NOAA, a tsunami warning means "that a tsunami with significant widespread inundation is expected or is already occurring."

There was no danger of a tsunami hitting Hawaii, according to the NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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USGS

An earthquake map from the USGS shows Saturday's 4.3-magnitude quake.

Updated at 5:40 p.m. ET: A 4.3-magnitude earthquake struck eight miles west of Whitesburg, Ky., early Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter of the shallow, light earthquake was 0.7 miles deep under the Appalachian Mountains town of Blackey, near the Virginia border, the agency said.

There were no immediate reports of damage in the eastern Kentucky area.

The tremor was felt from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Atlanta, Ga., USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso in Denver told NBC News.

"Normally, we don't expect major damage with this kind of intensity," but it's "not out of the question" that there could be some -- usually, major damage is expected when magnitude is 5.5 or higher, Caruso said.

Whitesburg police and fire officials told NBC News late Saturday afternoon that after making round they had no visible damage, only people calling to report that they "felt jolts."

Earlier, the Letcher County Sheriff's office said it was still assessing the quake but had no reports of damage or deaths. 

Nick Howell, at Parkway Inn Hotel in Whitesburg told NBC News he felt light jolts but nothing serious. There was no visible damage outside, he said. 

Most Kentucky temblors historically have occurred in the western portion of the state, near the New Madrid seismic zone, the USGS says.

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This story includes reporting by NBC's Michelle Acevedo, Ali Fateh, Brittany Tom and Jim Gold.

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Updated at 9:28 p.m. ET: A 4.0-magnitude earthquake struck west of Portland, Maine, on Tuesday evening, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and the tremor reportedly was felt around New England.

The USGS said the quake struck at 7:12 p.m. ET and was centered about three miles west of Hollis Center, Maine. That's about 20 miles west of Portland. It was a shallow quake at 3.1 miles deep.

The USGS "Did You Feel It?" map showed reports throughout New England from Maine to southwestern Connecticut and east to New York state.

"I was watching TV and I felt it and looked at a vase on the table and the flowers were moving," said Roger Nascimento, of West Hartford, in a Facebook comment to NBCConnecticut.com.

The USGS initially gave the earthquake a 4.6-magnitude rating and later downgraded it to 4.0.

The shaking was felt down to the Connecticut shoreline.

"Felt it here in the Fair Haven section of New Haven," said Carl Forlano, Jr. on Facebook. "Was sitting at the computer and the computer desk shook and the chair. Right away I knew it was an earthquake."

There were reports of minor damage near the epicenter, such as food falling off store shelves, according to WCSH-TV in Portland, Maine. Some cell phone service outages were also being reported. 

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Garrett Brnger / AP

After a year of debate about what many viewed was an offensive name, this New Hampshire pond, pictured during winter months, has been officially renamed Carleton Pond.

Jew Pond, a small, unremarkable, yet controversial body of water in New Hampshire, has been officially renamed Carleton Pond, which many had been calling it anyway.

Residents from Mont Vernon, N.H., had pejoratively dubbed it “Jew Pond” in the 1920s after two Jewish businessmen from Boston bought a hotel there, the Los Angeles Times reported. The businessmen wanted to reopen the hotel for Jewish guests, who had been banned from the hotel – and from most hotels in New Hampshire.

(A hotel brochure, unearthed by journalist Katelyn Dobbs for a 13-minute documentary she produced, noted: “Applications from Hebrews not desired.”)

The pond had been given other names – Spring Pond and Fire Pond among them – but “Jew Pond” made its way onto federal maps in the 1960s, the Nashua Telegraph reported.

It wasn’t until 2010, when an algae bloom prompted the state to close off the lake that Jew Pond made headlines.  

“A lot of us kind of cringed that our town would be characterized as having a pond that could be offensive to people and viewed as anti-Semitic,” Rich Masters, a Mont Vernon health officer, said in Dobbs’ documentary. Masters ultimately petitioned the town to change the pond’s name because he found it disrespectful.

“We thought it wasn’t a very good name for a pond,” Masters said. “I spoke to some people with a Jewish tradition, and they were not happy about it either.”

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Jeff Fladen, director of the New Hampshire Jewish Federation, told Dobbs that hearing the name “Jew Pond” reminded him of offensive phrases such as “Jewing down the price,” or talking about a “Jew lawyer” or a “Jew politician.”

“If the name had been Jewish pond,” Fladen said, “we would not be having this conversation.”  

Jew Pond gained national attention and even Daily Show host Jon Stewart did a bit on the pond in March, suggesting, jokingly, that it might be inhabited by a mythical and neurotic creature (Woody Allen).

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But some Mont Vernon residents didn’t find the pond’s name offensive.

“As long as there are old people here we will always call it Jew Pond,” a woman identified as Mrs. Wilkins of the Historical Society told Dobbs. “In this day and age we do not consider it an insult. It’s just history.”

That said, Wilkins noted, the name “probably was an insult.”  

After a year of debate, Mont Vernon residents overwhelmingly voted to change the pond's name to Carleton Pond after George O. Carleton who donated it to the town. The U.S. Geological Survey agreed and, on Friday, officially changed its name.

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A map shows the location of one of the quakes that struck near Huron, Calif., on Friday.

Two earthquakes struck in Huron, Calif., Friday, registering magnitudes of 4.2 and 4.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The first earthquake hit at 6:22 a.m. PT. One minute later, the 4.2 earthquake was reported.

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According to the USGS, the epicenter was eight miles from Avenal, Calif., nine miles from Kettleman City, Calif., 17 miles from Coalinga, Calif., and 132 miles from San Jose. Huron, Calif., is about 50 miles south of Fresno. 

About six hours earlier, a magnitude 3.5 earthquake struck Beverly Hills. Thousands of people reported feeling it, the Associated Press reported.

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A spokesman from the USGS told NBC News the earthquakes caused no reported damage.

Seismologists say the quakes are not on the San Andreas Fault and weren’t triggered by a magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Costa Rica, according to the Associated Press.

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LOS ANGELES -- A magnitude-3.2 quake hit Beverly Hills, Calif., before dawn on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Beverly Hills police watch commander Sgt. Michael Publicker said his station got numerous calls from anxious citizens after the 3:26 a.m. PT (6:26 a.m. ET) quake.

"Every alarm in the city is going off," he said. Patrol officers had seen no signs of structural damage, Publicker added.

California’s earthquake 'swarm' unusual but not rare

An officer at the nearby West Los Angeles police precinct said there had been no calls about the quake. 

The U.S.G.S. reported that the epicenter was one mile from West Hollywood and eight miles from Los Angeles Civic Center, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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