Scientist says earthquake shows bigger one could be on the way

THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: January 17th, 2006 02:30 AM

An earthquake described as “a miniature version” of the Nisqually quake that rocked Seattle nearly five years ago was a wake-up call in more ways than one, a scientist said.
Many residents in and around the British Columbia provincial capital and the Gulf Islands and a few on the mainland were jolted awake by the 3.9 magnitude quake at 4:29 a.m. Sunday, said John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada.

About 200 people submitted reports on the agency’s Web site, most saying they felt the shaking for several seconds, Cassidy said.

There was no significant damage, just two or three reports of a few items being knocked from shelves, but the quake should be a reminder of the possibility of much bigger and more dangerous ones, he said.

“It’s been fairly quiet in terms of felt earthquakes for a couple of years here in Victoria, and that’s a bit unusual,” he said. “We generally have one or two small earthquakes a year that are felt on southern Vancouver Island.”

The quake was centered about 27 miles beneath Finlayson Arm near Bamberton, about 15 miles north of Victoria, and occurred within the Juan de Fuca plate, which is slipping beneath the North American plate of the Earth’s crust at the rate of about 11/2 to 2 inches a year, Cassidy said.

The Associated Press