Small Earthquake Rattles Southern Island

By Rebecca Whitney
The Pictorial
Jul 08 2006

VICTORIA, BC - A minor earthquake on Tuesday had some people in the Cowichan Valley rumbling in their boots.

Pacific Geoscience Centre reported the quake, with a magnitude of 3.7, was centred in the Strait of Juan de Fuca 20 kilometres off the coast of Victoria.

Earthquakes on the scale of Tuesday’s shake do not generally cause damage — and in this instance there was no damage reported — although some Victoria residence reported incidences of things falling from shelves.

“You don’t start to get damage until you get to a 5 or 5.5 and even then only in poorly built structures,” said Natural Resources Canada earthquake seismologist Taimi Mulder.

“A 3.7 would feel like a truck slamming into your house — a real short, sharp jerk,” said Mulder.

As you move further from the epicenter of the quake, the frequency of the waves lengthen and therefore the quake is felt as more of a swaying of the ground.

People as far up Island as Shawnigan Lake and Cobble Hill reported feeling the earth move under their feet, but only very slightly.

According to Mulder there were three reports written in from the south Cowichan region stating the quake felt like a “strong gust of wind hitting the house” and an audible “vibration” that didn’t cause any movement.

Earthquakes of this magnitude occur a couple of times a year in southwestern British Columbia, and Mulder says “every couple of months an earthquake will occur that is strong enough to be felt.”

Mulder asks Vancouver Island residents to report to Natural Resources Canada if they feel an earthquake because people’s experiences are valuable tools in measuring and analyzing earthquakes.

“People’s experiences provide us with really valuable local information, said Mulder.

If you get shaken by a quake log onto www.earthquakescanada.ca and click on Did You Feel it.