Some Pemberton residents felt the effects of a 4.9 magnitude earthquake on Sunday, Dec.17. The earthquake struck B.C.’s West Coast at about 3:30 p.m., 137 kilometres northwest of Pemberton.
There were no reports of any injuries or damage. However, the seismic event was felt as far as Kelowna, more than 350 kilometres from the epicentre.
Nic MacPhee raised her family’s alarm when she felt her house moving. “It was at 3:23 p.m.,” she said. “It felt like the house was slowly moving, and when I looked out the window the blinds were swaying side to side, and so were the tree branches. I called to my kids saying I think we are having an earthquake and went to the living room where they were sitting. All the ornaments on our Christmas tree were swaying slowly and the blinds were also. It only lasted a couple of minutes.”
Meanwhile, Shannon Story initially blamed the aftershock on her pup. “I was lying on my bed reading a book, and my bed shook for about 30 seconds,” she said. “At first I thought that my dog might be under the bed shaking, and then I realized that she wasn’t, and wondered whether it was an earthquake. It wasn’t strong enough to shake any pictures on the wall, but the floor definitely moved!”
B.C. sees an average of 3,000 earthquakes reported in the province every year. Some are too small to even be felt. The province is at risk of “the big one,” a “megathrust” earthquake that would devastate communities on the West Coast of Canada. The most at-risk areas for earthquakes are along the coast, where the additional threat of a tsunami may follow.
Information on what to during an earthquake can be found on the Government of B.C.’s website.
