REVscene Automotive Forum - Rare earthquake shakes up central Canada

Shocking to see a earthquake happen on the east coast...

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OTTAWA — The largest earthquake to hit the area in 20 years sent workers scurrying from buildings across eastern and southern Ontario and western Quebec Wednesday afternoon.

The quake, which the Geological Survey of Canada reported had a magnitude of 5.0, was felt as far away as Toronto and Windsor, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Syracuse, N.Y., and Cleveland.

That scale was based on measurements recorded at seismic stations throughout the region by GSC.

There were early reports of structural damage to some buildings in Gatineau, Que., and to three Ottawa schools but no reports of injuries.

The quake's magnitude was initially pegged at 5.5 by the U.S. Geological Service, which later downgraded it to 5.0. "I can only say this is quite rare for this region" said John Campbell from the USGS.

The earthquake was centred eight kilometres east of Val-des-Bois in southwestern Que., about 60 kilometres northeast of Ottawa.

"Here at City Hall, we felt it very strongly," said Julien Croteau, who works for the municipality of nearby Val-des-Monts. "It moved quite a lot and lasted a few long seconds."

Seismologist Taimi Mulder with the GSC in Victoria, said the quake struck at a depth of about 16 kilometres, which is "average for that area."

According to the Richter scale, an earthquake of a 5.0 magnitude is considered moderate and could cause damage to poorly constructed buildings. They are relatively common and some 800 occur around the world annually.

In Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto the quake, which lasted about 20 seconds, caused buildings to shake and forced Via Rail to stop trains en route on the Ottawa-Montreal line.

Windows were reported shattered in Ottawa's Rideau Centre shopping mall and the city's First Avenue Public School was immediately closed because of cracks, pending an engineer's report.

On Parliament Hill, the historic buildings were evacuated, but there was little evidence of damage. Staff were told to go home.

Asked by an Ottawa Citizen reporter, a mason working on repairing a stone facade said even loose stones in the outer walls had barely shifted.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in a car headed toward the Ottawa airport when the quake hit and did not feel the ground move, according to PMO official Andrew MacDougall. Harper was on his way to Toronto where he will attend an Air India memorial.

Security guard Daniel Plouffe was in the basement of the House of Commons when the quake struck.

"At first, I thought it was a bomb going off," he said. But when the tremors went on, he realized it was probably an earthquake.

Plouffe said the Parliament Buildings, which are undergoing a massive renovation, were being inspected for damage by Public Works staff.

The Bank of Canada building in downtown Ottawa was closed pending verification of the structural integrity of the building.

Jacques Viger of Quebec civil security said there were no immediate reports of injuries across Quebec, but some damage was reported, such as cracks along walls, that required engineers to be dispatched to verify the structural soundness of the buildings.

"People have called after spotting cracks and fissures to certain buildings," he said, without having immediate specifics. "Specialists have been sent to survey the safety certain buildings where damage has been reported."

He said a section of land near a bridge in Bowman, Que., near the epicentre, is missing over a 50-metre stretch. Transport Quebec and Quebec provincial police were assessing whether the quake caused any damage to the bridge. Traffic on route 307 was being diverted.

Inspectors were being sent to survey overpasses and other structures in the Outaouais, he said. He said an energy company was also checking hydro dams on Riviere-du-Lievre.

The mayor of Gracefield, Que., Real Rochon, told LCN he was putting emergency measures in place, after evacuating certain buildings and cutting power to some areas.

He told the French-language network he feared the church steeple could come down "at any time" after the church's ceiling and chimney collapsed.

A roof also collapsed in a local hotel and community centre, he added, forcing people to leave their apartments. Engineers were being called in to evaluate possible structural problems.

TV footage out of Buckingham, Que., showed some homes suffering minor damage, such as fallen bricks.

Many buildings around Toronto were evacuated. According to the Toronto Transit Commision and Toronto Emergency Services, there were no reports of serious injuries.

In Windsor, City Hall and the City Hall Square building were evacuated Thursday after the earthquake caused the ground to shake in Windsor and Essex County.

David Lau, professor civil engineering at Carleton University says even though the area often experiences earthquakes — the seismic risk of the Ottawa-Gatineau region ranks third in Canadian urban areas, according to Seismological Society of America — "you don't feel the small ones." When small quakes rumble through the area, most people cannot detect them through the sound and vibrations of traffic and everyday bustle of busy cities. It just "blends into the urban activities," he said.

Lau said the vast majority of highrise and office buildings in Canadian centres are sturdy enough to withstand earthquakes of (5.0) magnitude.

"Seismic forces (are) a major factor that structural engineers consider in building bridges and all kinds of structures," he said. "Canada is a leader in building regulations."

Lau said the bigger danger during and after earthquakes such as Wednesday's is the tumbling of contents of people's home and offices. He says it's very important bookshelves, electronics and anything else hanging on walls or ceilings are "properly anchored or tied down."

Some 120 metres atop a construction site that will be a 20-storey building, about 700 metres south of Parliament Hill, crane operator Bento Gontcalves, 62, had a bird's-eye view of the Ottawa skyline when the quake struck. He said he felt his rig jiggle but he wasn't immediately frightened.

"For a few seconds, I heard the tower shaking," he said. "Well, I stopped when I heard that; I thought something had broke on the crane."

Gontcalves, 62, and a crane operator since 1976, said he never considered leaving his perch, as he is used to his crane swaying. "It moves a lot," he chuckled.

Dale Burke was on the seventh floor of her office building in Ottawa when she felt the shaking.

At first, she didn't move, because she couldn't believe it was happening.

"I was shocked, but then I ran," she said, standing on the street.

She was trying to track down her husband in eastern Ottawa, but her cellphone wasn't working.

Telus spokeswoman said Anne-Julie Gratton in Toronto said the quake didn't cause any outages as such, but the higher call volumes immediately afterward overwhelmed the system, meaning many people couldn't get through.

Stephanie Couvrette, a McGill University student from Canada who works a summer job in Rochester N.Y., said she felt the quake.

"It didn't last very long, I barely felt it," she said in an email. "(A friend's) son felt it better in their house, he panicked a bit," she said, adding "It wasn't too bad here except for a few Tintin postcards shaking on a cubicle wall."

Cathy Basile, who was at her home in south Ottawa, said she felt the tremors at about 1:45 p.m. ET.

"Everything started slowly to shake, and then it got really strong, like a train going through. And then it slowed down, stopped, and then there was a little burp. My friend who works for the civil service downtown says everyone went outside their building, they're all on the street."

In neighbouring Gatineau, Que., Robert Lenarcic works at the massive Place du Portage complex — home to thousands of workers.

"I was meeting with some staff when we heard this loud crash sound," he said in an email to Canwest News Service. "The floor suddenly shook — felt like it dropped and raised. I had to grab onto the wall for support."

Lenarcic said he could literally see the ceiling heave and thought the floor above was going to cave in. He said staff were ordered to go home.

Alain Latour in Toronto and his wife were outside when they felt the quake.

"My wife and I were having espresso and chocolate in our balcony on Bathurst and St. Clair West when the balcony shook. It's a hundred-year-old, third-storey wooden balcony, so at first, we thought maybe someone had hit one of the balconies below. We jumped up and leaned against the railing and, looking down, found nothing unusual. "It must've been an earthquake!" my wife said. I laughed.

Municipal employees in Val-des-Bois said they were experiencing aftershocks every five minutes for more than 50 minutes after the earthquake.

Marlene Nontell, a secretary at the municipality, said Highway 307 was closed north of the town of 900 people because of a partial bridge collapse near Bowman. Nontell said rocks had fallen onto the highway from a nearby cliff.

"The two first quakes were like an explosion — I flew out the door," Nontell said. "We still have power and there is no damage but the telephones are down. Almost all our employees are volunteer firefighters who are on the radio responding to questions."

The earthquake was likely caused by a geological phenomenon called "isostatic rebound," said University of Toronto geologist Russell Pysklywec.

Most of North America was buried under two kilometres of ice 10,000 years ago, he explained. Since then the Earth has been slowly rebounding back to its pre-ice age levels.

According to information on the website Geoscience World the large Western Quebec seismic zone has felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from larger ones for centuries.

The two most damaging earthquakes occurred in 1935 (magnitude 6.1) at the northwestern end of the seismic zone, and in 1732 (magnitude 6.2) 450 km away at the southeastern end of the zone where it caused significant damage in Montreal. Earthquakes cause damage in the zone about once every decade. Smaller earthquakes are felt three or four times a year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

With files from the National Post, Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service