Earthquake shakes Eastern Ontario Tuesday afternoon

Residents across Eastern Ontario who thought they felt the earth shake early in the afternoon of Tuesday, April 14 weren’t imagining it.

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake was recorded in western Quebec, near the Ontario border, at 12:36 p.m., according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake was located 20 km northeast of Shawville, QC; 59 km east of Pembroke, 62 km west-northwest of Gatineau, and 63 km west-northwest of Ottawa.

Hometownist readers have reported feeling the shaking as far west as Trenton, and as far east as Cornwall.

A 4.0 magnitude earthquake is generally considered to be a mid-level event, with 2.0 or less usually small enough not to be felt, and 8.0 or greater severe enough to destroy communities near the epicentre.

According to USGS website, people in the large Western Quebec seismic zone have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from larger ones for three centuries.

The two largest damaging earthquakes occurred in 1935 (magnitude 6.1) at the northwestern end of the seismic zone, and in 1732 (magnitude 6.2) 450 km (280 mi) away at the southeastern end of the zone where it caused significant damage in Montreal. Earthquakes cause damage in the zone about once a decade.

Smaller earthquakes are felt three or four times a year, the USGS says.