Doggone it! We experienced an earthquake yesterday, and I missed it.
It was a fiver on the Richter scale, so it's not major in world terms, but it's pretty major for our region — the Ottawa Valley. It was felt pretty far away too: there are even reports from Michigan, Ohio and Chicago — a long way, indeed.
Our town lies about a hundred kilometres from the epicentre near Val-des-Bois, Quebec, which is a tiny settlement, not even shown on the map below.
Being so near the epicentre Val-des-Bois did suffer some damage such as the collapse of this small bridge over the Gatineau River. ↓↓
All in all, however, not much damage was done in the region, and there are no reports of anyone being injured. For the most part, the effects were limited to shaking and rattling of dishes etc, and some items were knocked off shelves in grocery stores.
I am a little miffed about missing it because we don't get many quakes that can actually be felt. We do get dozens per year, but most are imperceptible. I was outside mowing the grass and stumbling about with a vibrating machine, so I failed to perceive the quake. In the hazy periphery of my brain, I think I felt a glitch of some sort but didn't attribute it to a quake: perhaps a stumble on my part or heavy piece of machinery rumbling by. Although I am sorry to have missed this one, I can't say that I am anxiously looking forward to another because the next may not be as benign.
Note: Local tremors are the result of intraplate as opposed to interplate quakes. There are old fault lines in this region where movement can occur. Oddly enough, the effects of our more mild quakes, as opposed to the more powerful ones near plate boundaries such as the West Coast, can extend quite far because there are fewer barriers and faultlines to disrupt the waves.
I was wondering last night if you'd felt it. Interesting reading your post.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if you had felt it. (I've never experienced one.)
ReplyDeleteEarthquakes? Leave me out of them, please! The biggest one I've ever felt actually woke me up, as I thought somebody was shaking my bed...scary...
ReplyDeleteI was glad no one was hurt but I hate to see damage. Honestly A/C I have a horrible feeling it is just a matter of time before a huge earthquake hits North American which will do much damage, I sure hope I am wrong.....:-) Hugs
ReplyDeleteIt is just a matter if time until a big one hits, but let's hope it's a long time at least.
ReplyDeleteWow! So glad there was no damage in your neck of the woods, A/c. My sister lives in Lachute, Quebec. She is in the US now for an extended visit but her husband is there at home. I'll see her tomorrow and get the skinny on whether they felt the effects!
ReplyDeleteThis was my first earthquake experience (while Nathan was peeing nonetheless) and at first I thought Mark had fired up the treadmill (he is home to avoid the G20 delays) but then I realized our doors were rattling and the ground was shaking far beyond that of a treadmill. It startled me at first until I realized what was happening.
ReplyDeleteAnd to BOOT! I called my Mom, who felt the quake and hours later, her town was hit by a Tornado. sheesh.
I heard about that A/C. Was hoping that no one was hurt. I felt one once. We are over a fault near Mammoth Cave which is only about 1 1/2 hours from us. Yes there will probably be a big one one day.
ReplyDeleteQMM
huh, neat factoid on why it spread so far.
ReplyDeletehard to miss in the high rise. a pebble bit of ceiling knocked loose.
So glad you missed it...I hear they can be Awful and scary...
ReplyDeletehughugs
I happened to sign on to Twitter just as it was hitting and Twitter was all abuzz. It was interesting seeing the power of the social media - finding out about stories as they were happening and before news sites had a chance to report.
ReplyDeleteWell, I wondered. We are out in Utah at present, and saw the news. And, I thought of you & Cuppa.
ReplyDeleteI watched it on my TV news. May be they should leave that broken bridge as a souvenir. I think know there are earthquarkes in Canada. My husband being a self acclaimed earthquarke engineer and all, we talk a lot about earth quarkes.
ReplyDeleteThe kiwis are happy with their 3 draw all whites. I styaed up unitl 3 am. The Paraquay was obviously a better team,. It would have been nice to get one goal though.
I am not very very keen on sports, but when my home country plays, I watch. I woke up at 1pm, good thing I am on holidays. Woke up mementarily when the son went to school, but did not even stir when the husband went.
If the Kiwis don't play, and the Canadian play, you get no prize for guessing who I am supporting. (Did I tell you I was in Windsor in the mid 70s?)
For some reason AC, I thought that you lived on the west side of Canada. In any case, I am glad that you didn't have any damage.
ReplyDeleteWe live on a major fault line. Thus the insurance co. will not insure us for earthquakes. I experienced one just about two years ago.
It was odd as I was asleep and it woke me. Nothing had fallen in the house, but we did acquire some structural damage! Love Di ♥
Ann: We don't do soccer very well, so I doubt you'll ever have to cheer against us.
ReplyDeleteDiana: My daughter lives on the West Coast where quakes could be much more bigger and scarier than here.
Drat, don't you just hate when that happens? Mother nature putting on a show and you missed it - Lucky you. It's not something I would be sad to have not felt. Glad all was OK for everyone.
ReplyDeleteHere in Oregon, USA, we're 50 years overdue for our regularly occurring 300 year MAJOR quake. I'm sure there are worse things than missing a quake, but they ARE memorable. I'll always remember the minor one I experienced in California.
ReplyDelete