Authorities have announced there was no tsunami risk to British Columbia's coast after a brief scare triggered by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, in the same area hit in July by one of the biggest quakes ever recorded.

The risk to B.C. had been under assessment on Thursday after the quake struck around 11:58 a.m., Pacific time.

The all-clear for B.C. and most of the U.S. Pacific coast was issued by the National Tsunami Warning Center at 1:08 p.m.

The centre said while a tsunami advisory was in effect for the Aleutian Islands and Amchitka Pass off Alaska's coast, no other areas of North America's Pacific coast faced a threat.

It followed up with a statement about half an hour later saying there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii either.

However, it said tsunami waves had been observed closer the quake's epicentre, 120 kilometres east of Petropavlovsk off the east coast of Kamchatka, at a depth of about 10 kilometres.

"Tsunami waves reaching one to three metres above the tide level are possible along some coasts of Russia," the centre said.

The scare for B.C. came about seven weeks after much of the province's coast was placed under a tsunami advisory for hours following a massive 8.8-magnitude tremor in the same area off Russia.

One of the eight most powerful earthquakes recorded since 1900, it triggered warnings for people to stay away from B.C. shores, but the waves were too small to create problems.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the waves at their highest levels in parts of B.C. were less than 30 centimetres.