Big quake could happen in Canada; would be felt in Calgary
Posted Mar 29, 2011 10:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Despite the devastating headlines following recent earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand, Chile and Haiti, seismic experts say we’re not seeing more tremors, but they have been hitting closer to populated areas.
A small quake hit near Ottawa Tuesday, but it wasn’t strong enough to do any damage.
Seismologists say Canada is a geologically active region, registering somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 earthquakes a year. However, most of those are too weak to be felt.
If Canada does get a big quake, it will most likely strike off the west coast, but it’s almost impossible to say when that would happen.
Natural Resources Canada Seismologist John Cassidy tells 660News that if the west coast gets a big enough tremor, buildings in downtown Calgary would sway enough to make some people dizzy, but damage would be highly unlikely.
“With the Chile earthquake last year being an 8.8, that was felt 3,000 kms away,” he points out. “If you take the same earthquake and put it off the west coast of Vancouver Island, it would be felt all the way across, in fact, almost to Toronto.”
Cassidy adds that it’s possible for such a quake to strike, considering the 9.0 magnitude tremor that hit off the coast of Vancouver Island about 300 years ago.
