Northern Ontario earthquake causes minimal damage

An earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale sent tremors through the Sudbury region in northern Ontario, but failed to cause any damage.The epicentre of the quake was about five kilometres from the town of Lively, west of Sudbury, the CBC reported. Tim Beadman, director of emergency management for the City of Sudbury, says the city is prepared for a major earthquake, although earthquakes are not considered among the area’s Top 5 risks. Even though the region has experienced three quakes in the past year or so, all have been of a small magnitude causing little to no damage, Beadman said.The department has conducted a risk analysis of both man-made and weather events over the past ten or 15 years. Of the top five risks faced by the city, four involve hazardous material, both fixed or rolling stock, and the fifth is the threat of a pandemic caused by influenza, he says.Referring to earthquakes, Beadman notes: “We’ve had these sorts of events before, but they never reached the magnitude of destruction, but that’s not saying that they can’t.” Should a larger quake strike the area, the city has an all-hazard plan in place, Beadman says. If a substantial earthquake occurred, an emergency declaration would be made and help from neighbouring municipalities sought.”We don’t have heavy urban search-and-rescue teams, so we would be looking for mutual aid from the province and the federal government and neighbouring municipalities that would have the resources to assist us,” according to Beadman.Toronto, roughly 400 kilometres from Sudbury, is the closest city with heavy urban search-and-rescue resources.