Here is the culprit... its Canada's fault, Oh., I just made a pun...
OTTAWA — A moderate earthquake of at least 5.0 magnitude hit southern Ontario and western Quebec early Wednesday afternoon, sending people fleeing out of buildings.
There were no early reports of major damage, though there are reports it was felt as far away as Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Chicago, Syracuse and Cleveland.
The quake's 5.0 magnitude was confirmed by the U.S. Geological Service. "I can only say this is quite rare for this region" said John Campbell from the USGS.
However, the Geological Survey of Canada reported the quake had a magnitude of 5.6.
The quake's epicentre — 45.8 degrees north and 75.45 degrees west— was 61 kilometres north of Ottawa and it was 15 km deep.
In Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto the quake, which lasted about 20 seconds, caused buildings to shake and Via Rail stopped its trains that were en route on the Ottawa-Montreal line.
At the time of the quake, people could be seen flooding out of buildings in the downtown core of Ottawa.
Windows were reported broken in Ottawa's Rideau Centre and the Parliamentary precinct was evacuated as was the city's office, where it was reported that the nine-storey building could be felt to be swaying.
Dale Burke was on the seventh floor of her office building in Ottawa when she felt the shaking.
At first, she didn't move, because she couldn't believe it was happening.
"I was shocked, but then I ran," she said, standing on the street.
She was trying to track down her husband in eastern Ottawa, but her cellphone wasn't working. The quake also knocked out cell service, though it was not clear if it was the actual quake or the volume of calls that crashed the network.
The City of Toronto said that "in our initial assessment, there has been no major damage to city infrastructure. Further investigations are taking place to confirm. The Toronto Transit Commission and Transportation Services have reported that there has been no damage to their infrastructure or interruptions to service."
Toronto's Emergency Medical Services has received no requests for help related to the earthquake, said Kim McKinnon, a spokeswoman for the service.
Cathy Basile, who was at her home in south Ottawa, said she felt the tremors at about 1:45 p.m.
"Everything started slowly to shake, and then it got really strong, like a train going through. And then it slowed down, stopped, and then there was a little burp. My friend who works for the civil service downtown says everyone went outside their building, they're all on the street.''
In neighbouring Gatineau, Que, Robert Lenarcic works at the massive Place du Centre at Place du Portage — home to 25,000 workers.
"I was meeting with some staff when we heard this loud crash sound," he said in an e-mail to Canwest News Service. "The floor suddenly shook — felt like it dropped and raised. I had to grab onto the wall for support."
Lenarcic said he could literally see the ceiling heave and thought the floor above was going to cave in. He said staff at the complex were ordered to go home.
Alain Latour in Toronto and his wife were having an afternoon coffee when they felt the quake.
"My wife and I were having espresso and chocolate in our balcony on Bathurst and St. Clair W. when the balcony shook. It's a hundred-year-old, third-storey wooden balcony, so at first we thought maybe someone had hit one of the balconies below. We jumped up and leaned against the railing and, looking down, found nothing unusual. "It must've been an earthquake!" my wife said. I laughed. "Of course it wasn't."
The earthquake was likely caused by a geological phenomenon called "isostatic rebound," said University of Toronto geologist Russell Pysklywec.
Most of North America was buried under two kilometres of ice 10,000 years ago, he explained. Since then the Earth has been slowly rebounding back to its pre-ice age levels.
According to information on the website Geoscience World the seismic risk of the Ottawa-Gatineau region ranks third in Canadian urban areas.
In Ottawa, House of Commons security guard Daniel Plouffe was in the basement of Parliament when the quake occurred.
"At first I thought it was a bomb going off," he said.
But when the tremors went on, he realized it was probably an earthquake.
Plouffe said the Parliament buildings, which are undergoing a massive renovation, have been evacuated and Public Works staff are inside assessing them for any damage.
He said there was a report of a possible gas leak in the East Block.
With files from the National Post, Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen
Read more:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Earthquake+hits+Ontario+Quebec/3191755/story.html#ixzz0rhoUnOgA
