Another earthquake shook southern British Columbia Monday morning.
The quake, with a preliminary reading of 4.8 magnitude, struck just after 5 a.m. about 42 kilometres east of Sidney, Earthquakes Canada says.
As of 6 a.m., the quake was revised by Earthquakes Canada to a 4.1 magnitude. Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey says the earthquake struck at a 4.5 magnitude, just 10 miles east of Orcas Island in the San Juan Island.
A tsunami warning has not been issued.
Natural Resources Canada earthquake seismologist John Cassidy tells 1130 NewsRadio he was sound asleep when the earthquake hit.
“We had an earthquake, very close to Orcas Island, so relatively close, about 45 kilometres from Victoria, about 70 kilometres from downtown Vancouver, so felt by thousands and thousands of people, including myself,” Cassidy explained.
“A very rude awakening,” he added.
“I realized it was an earthquake right away. Everything was shaking, a rumbling noise that went on for at least 10 seconds. I put a pillow over my head and waited until well after the shaking stopped before getting up and checking the computer.”
Cassidy said there might be a few aftershocks from the morning’s earthquake around the region.
“It was big enough that we would expect to see some aftershocks in the magnitude three range that could be felt,” he said.
But Cassidy doesn’t believe the earthquakes the region has seen over the last two weeks are linked.
“No, wouldn’t expect any of these earthquakes that we felt in the past few days to be connected. They’re all far enough apart and different types of earthquakes,” he explained. “The one north of Vancouver was in the North American plate, so they’re too far apart to be to to be connected. But this is an area where we see small earthquakes every single day all around us.”
Cassidy says that if you haven’t been taking the risk of a large damaging earthquake seriously, now’s the time to get prepared.
“It’s always a good time to update and check your earthquake kit. Know what to do — get under a table, get under a desk. Hold on, because during a larger earthquake, furniture can move away from you,” he said.
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With files from Sonia Aslam.
