Earthquake off B.C. coast Friday felt in Vancouver
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2020 23:52:39 +0000
A magnitude 4.5 earthquake that struck off the coast of Vancouver Island on Friday afternoon was strong enough to be felt in parts of Metro Vancouver.
The seismic event was detected at 1:35 p.m. Pacific time.
The United States Geological Survey says the quake occurred 26 km underground, about 48 km southeast of Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
According to data collected on the earthquake app LastQuake, people reported feeling it as far away as Surrey.
Map of felt reports received so far following the #earthquake M4.5 in Vancouver Island, Canada Region 45 min ago pic.twitter.com/OVqi4sWOPH
Vancouverites reacted on social media with the typical fare when the ground rattles even a little bit: quips and gifs making light of our deep-seated fear of the big one.
I just went through my first #earthquake experience here in Vancouver Island and it was intense pic.twitter.com/SoJxB0TNHU
Am I eating chips too aggressively? Or was there an earthquake just now in Vancouver?
Felt the earthquake in Vancouver. Did you? And most importantly are you prepared for a big one?
Fortunately, Friday’s quake was not it. There are no reports of damage and no tsunami is expected.
The earthquake was B.C.’s second of the year, a diminishment in frequency following a burst of seismic activity at the end of December. According to Earthquakes Canada, there were nine tremors off the waters of Vancouver Island between Dec. 23-25, including one every couple of hours the day before Christmas Eve. The December quakes ranged in magnitude from 3.6 to 6.0.
Experts contacted by Postmedia after the December quakes were quick to assuage fears that those tremors portended the big one, and the same assurance applies here: small earthquakes are not necessarily a sign of larger quakes to come.
Besides: If it was the big one, you’d probably know. The tweets would be less funny.
with files from The Canadian Press
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