Small earthquake shakes BC’s Mayne Island

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Did you feel it?

A relatively small magnitude 2.8 earthquake struck the South Coast just after 10:00 this morning.

“This earthquake was just barely large enough to be felt,” explains Seismologist John Cassidy with Natural Resources Canada. “But it was felt from Victoria to Vancouver, throughout the Gulf Islands, Duncan-area of eastern Vancouver Island. So, felt by many people.”

Cassidy says the furthest from the epicentre that tremors were felt was in North Vancouver — which is about 60 kilometres away.

The quake was centres about 20 kilometres south-southwest of Point Roberts.

“Just a very mild, short duration shaking. “A few people reported feeling like a truck may have hit the house. Just a jolt, like a very short jolt.”

The earthquake happened about 60 kilometres below the surface, and there are no reports of damage.

LISTEN: NEWS 1130’s Bruce Claggett catches up with Natural Resources Canada’s John Cassidy to talk about the Mayne Island Earthquake

Cassidy says though small, this earthquake serves as a reminder of where we are.

“We’ve seen much larger earthquakes in the past and the really big earthquakes don’t happen so often, but they do occur decades or centuries apart in this region. So, it is a very good reminder that this is an active earthquake zone.

“We’ve seen much, much larger in the past, we’ll see large earthquakes again in the future. So knowing what to do and being prepared for those earthquakes makes a huge difference.”

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