earthquake near shawville rattles western quebec and ottawa area
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parliament hill view from elgin street in ottawa. an earthquake near shawville, que., was felt throughout the city tuesday afternoon.
jean levac
/
postmedia
an earthquake was recorded west of ottawa at about 12:36 p.m. on tuesday, april 14.
the quake’s epicentre about 20 kilometres northeast of shawville, 59 kilometres east of pembroke and 62 kilometres west-northwest of gatineau, according to natural resources canada.
relatively speaking, it was a mild earthquake. the quake registered a 3.9 on the moment magnitude scale, which has replaced the richter scale. small earthquakes have about the same magnitudes on both scales.
as of tuesday afternoon, there had been almost 3,000 “intensity” reports from residents who felt it, with most of the reports, based on postal codes, recalling weak to moderate shaking, with most reporting no to very light damage. there were a handful of reports of strong to very strong shaking near the epicentre, with light to moderate damage.
dozens of reports were logged in the ottawa area, and the quake was reported along the ottawa river valley from petawawa to montreal.
map by dennis leung/postmedia source: openstreetmap/natural resources canada
usually — but not always — the highest intensities are measured near the earthquake epicentre and lower intensities are measured farther away, according to natural resources canada.
this was the fifth earthquake to be reported in canada so far this month. the most significant quake was reported on april 10 on the west coast near the alaska border. it registered a 5.6 on the moment magnitude scale.
according to natural resources canada, there have been 11 earthquakes in the ottawa area that have recorded over 5.0 since 1861. the most significant earthquake in recent years rattled ottawa on may 17, 2013, registering 5.2.
ottawa is located in a seismically active valley where the risk of a major quake is considered moderate. dozens of earthquakes occur each year in eastern ontario and western quebec, but most are too mild to be felt.
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