Minor earthquake felt in Prince George, B.C.
3.4 magnitude quake reported at 3:07 p.m. PT
Residents of Prince George, B.C., reported feeling a sudden jolt Wednesday afternoon, shortly after 3:07 p.m. PT
Seismic auto detectors initially set the magnitude at 4.1, but Earthquakes Canada officially measured it at magnitude 3.4 minutes later.
The agencysays the quake occurred 32 kilometres southwest of the city at a depth of fivekilometres.
Multiple residents throughout the community reported having felt the tremor.
No injuries or damage have been reported.
The Rocky Mountain Trench runs through Prince George, so there is a history of seismicity on small fault lines, according to CBC meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe,but it is unusual for minor quakesto be felt by residents.
2022 Sep 21 15:07 - Felt earthquake in Prince George, M 3.4. More info to follow.
—@CANADAquakes
Cindy Marcotte, who works downtown, says it took her a while to figure out what happened after she felt her office shake.
"My first impression was I thought that someone had smashed into our building," she said. "A lady across the street said [her] building shook so bad,she was terrified."
Earthquakes Canada says given the scale of the earthquake, no damage would be expected.
John Cassidy, anearthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says earthquakes near Prince George are relatively rare.
Todays felt earthquake (M3.4) near #PrinceGeorge is a relatively rare event. https://t.co/OybMWkB0uS
During the past 30 years only ~25 #earthquakes have occurred within 100 km of this location. The largest known earthquake (M5.4) in this area was in 1986https://t.co/kYtWpRcekw pic.twitter.com/35WLXyIYmx
—@earthquakeguy
He says there have been25 earthquakeswithin 100 kilometres of the city in the past 30 years.The largest known quake recorded in the areawasamagnitude5.4 quake that occurred in March 1986.
With files from Catherine Hansen