There was some rattling and rolling going on in Squamish on Wednesday (April 23).
Shortly after 8 p.m., an earthquake hit B.C. Its epicentre was located 40 kilometres southwest of Port Alice on Vancouver Island, the Pacific Tsunami Information Centre reported. The quake was recorded at a magnitude of 6.7 and had a depth of 10 kilometres, stated a bulletin from the centre.
The shaking ground sent a ripple through social media. Residents in Brackendale, Garibaldi Estates and Garibaldi Highlands reported feeling it. Bill McKenzie was relaxing in his easy chair when he heard the house creak. All of a sudden he felt nauseous and noticed the lamp moving.
“I got up to see if it was a train, but it was a different kind of motion,” McKenzie said.
The trees outside were swaying and water sitting in a tree stand was rippling.
“It seemed to only last for five to 10 seconds,” he said. “If I hadn’t have felt motion sickness, I wouldn’t have really noticed it.”
The possibility of a tsunami in Howe Sound is extremely remote, Squamish Emergency Program (SEP) coordinator Jim Lang told The Chief following the tragic earthquake that struck Japan in 2011.
“A 9.3 or 9.5 [earthquake] is going to hurt us, but one thing we can be somewhat certain of is that Squamish won’t suffer a great tsunami — here it’s more about the effects of the earthquake,” he said.
At most, Squamish might see a swell of approximately a metre, Lang said. The community is sheltered from the open Pacific Ocean by Vancouver Island and from the Georgia Strait by the Sunshine Coast mountains.
In 2012, B.C. was struck with a magnitude-7.7 earthquake that rocked Haida Gwaii. The temblor, that was felt in the sea to Sky Corridor around 8:04 p.m., caused little damage and no injures.
