4.7, 5.4, 6.4 earthquake swarm recorded off Vancouver Island

||| FROM VANCOUVER CITY NEWS |||

Earthquakes Canada says a magnitude 6.1 earthquake has been recorded off the west coast of Vancouver Island Thursday morning.

The national earthquake agency says the quake, which was recorded at 8:08 a.m., is part of an ongoing “swarm of earthquakes offshore Vancouver Island, at the intersection of the northern Juan de Fuca Ridge, Sovanco Fracture Zone, and Nootka Fault Zone.”

Emergency Info BC says there is no tsunami threat to B.C. due to the quake.

Speaking to CityNews Thursday morning, John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, said there have only been a few felt reports due to the quake.

“This earthquake, although it’s a large earthquake, is still far enough away that it hasn’t wasn’t felt by most people on the island and the closest communities,” he explained.

The US Geological Survey initially recorded the quake, about 220 kilometres west of Tofino, as being magnitude 6.6, and Cassidy explains that the magnitude recorded may change over time as “more data comes in and more analysis” is done.

Cassidy says earthquakes over magnitude 6 “do occur” in our region, with 11 being recorded over the last 25 years.

“A few earthquakes like this [happen] every decade. They’re not unheard of. But they don’t happen every year. So, they are relatively rare events,” he explained.

“And these are really large earthquakes. So a 6.1 close to a city would be very strong shaking, and some damage would be expected.

“Certainly you’d see broken windows, broken chimneys, you’d see items coming off of shelves. Very frightening shaking if you’re close to that sort of an earthquake.”

Cassidy says due to the earthquake’s distance away from populated areas, it “lost its punch.”

“We’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of magnitude 5 and 6 in this area over the decades. So, it’s a region of very active plate tectonics,” he explained.

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