Shaker rumbles B.C.

Residents of B.C.’s Queen Charlotte Islands were reminded of the province’s risk to earthquakes when a shaker measuring a magnitude of 6.2 on the Richter scale occurred on February 17, at 12:12pm. The “mini quake” was followed by another tremor of 5.2 at 1:19pm the same day. Neither of the quakes, which originated 109 kilometers off the coastline, are reported to have caused any significant damage or loss of life. The reach of the tremors stretched from the Charlottes as far north as Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat and Steward.

No tsunami resulted from the earthquakes as they were what the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) describes as “sideways shifts” of the Pacific and North American plates where the tremors are believed to have originated – a “vertical shift” is needed to cause tidal wave action. The last major earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred in 1949, also in the Charlottes. The biggest B.C quake on record happened in the year 1700, and is estimated to have measured 9.0 in magnitude. The GSC has warned that another “big quake” of similar or greater scale than the one in 1700 is almost definitely likely to hit B.C. again at some point.