Earthquake in Ontario/Quebec

We had an earthquake today (Magnitude 5.0). My work evacuated the building and sent everyone home to be on the safe side. I got home and the only thing out of place was my flashlight collection. About 1/2 my lights were knocked over on the shelf. I had my trusty EDC light and knife on me but there was no need for them today.

Any power outages?

Sgt. LED said:

Any power outages?

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I haven't heard of any. I've heard emergency vehicles running around but not sure what they are responding to.

Amazing that wikipedia already has a page going:
2010_Central_Canada_earthquake

Sgt. LED said:

Any power outages?

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Lol are you saying what I'm thinking?

Yeah i felt it in Brossard even if was only a small shake but it was during the day( no blackout) and i think the quake epicenter was about 61kms away from ottawa and was of magnitude 5.5(from cbc) was probably felt stronger out there.

Felt it in Blainville (north shore of Montreal), everything was shaking for a good 20 seconds. It started slow, I thought there was a construction truck or something close. Then all hell broke loose (lol).

No power outages.

I live in a condo 17th floor, my building starting swinging like I was on a swing. I never felt an earthquake like this before that made my building swing from side to side. I called my sister and asked her if she felt that, she asks me if I was high(I havent smoked any dope in a few days I swear)...lol but then she saw it on the news and said she didnt feel it.

How bad? Where was it located?

daimleramg said:

I live in a condo 17th floor, my building starting swinging like I was on a swing.

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That would be FLAMING SCARY!!

I don't like tall buildings to start with, but one swinging, YIKES!!!!

Half the OP's lights were dislodged from the shelf, which admittedly must have been a dismaying occurrence, but one that may possibly have been outweighed in importance by other damage caused by the earthquake.

I'm therefore moving this to the Cafe.

I live in Toronto and was working from home when my building started to shake. I am very close to the subway so I initially thought that was the cause... until my bike starting swaying side to side on my bike rack. Then, I realized it was something else. Luckily, my building just experienced shaking and that was about it. And it was early afternoon so, even with power outage, no need to bring out the lights.

My friend in Ottawa emailed me and told me it was worse there... she lost 3 wall-mounted book shelves and the stairs were swaying when she was running out of her apartment building. Luckily, there were no injuries.

gunga said:

How bad? Where was it located?

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The epicenter was located at Buckingham, QC near Ottawa.

This earthquake was cause by the Quebecers trying to separate from Canada...lol

It was felt down here in SW Ohio. I was sitting in the waiting room of a tire store getting my free tire balance. I should have felt something but did not. Rats! I always wanted to feel what a small earthquake is like.

Rolled through here around 1:30 PM, when I was out driving. Never even felt it, probably dismissed it as a pothole or something.

Got home and nothing was upside down.

We also had a tornado touch down 4 km from my house just half an hour ago. Hydro lines and trees down, and some poor family lost a barn and silo.

daimleramg said:

This earthquake was cause by the Quebecers trying to separate from Canada...lol

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Wait and see, that wasjust our first try next time we'll make it work :devil::devil:

On a more serious note, at the University of Montreal about half the people felt it.

We felt it in the Detroit area. I was sitting at my desk having lunch when I felt the building shake. My office is next to a large catering kitchen. I thought it was somebody dragging equipment across the kitchen floor or had something to do with the work that was being done on the roof. A few minutes later I went to one of the local news channel websites to check the weather and it was breaking news.

Jash said:

That would be FLAMING SCARY!!

I don't like tall buildings to start with, but one swinging, YIKES!!!!

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heh...places where earthquakes are common buildings are actually designed to swing. :ast time I went back to visit family in Taiwan I stayed at a cousins home about 40 stories from the ground. There were high winds and the building were listing to and fro all night, I feel like sleeping on a boat with huge swells around me. When I asked my cousin if he ever felt scared his response was "this is nothing compared to earthquakes" oo:

originally reported as a 5.5, corrected as 5
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010xwa7.php

depth of 17km were adjusted to 16.4...I'm impressed to know it was felt all the way to NYC...which in case you didn't know is essentially sitting on a huge stone slab

Bah! Most of us Californians wouldn't even think twice about it if it wasn't over 6 on the Richter scale.

It's surprising to me that they didn't cut the power but I guess the failsafes trigger from a bigger earthquake before doing that. I know that after the '89 Loma Prieta earthquake that we went without power for about 24 hours (I had my trusty 2D MagLite with me!). Glad to hear that there weren't any injuries nor damage.

I went home after lunch, turned a fan on and plonked on my bed. I felt the mattress sway a little side to side as if on a swing. Could not figure what caused it. Until the evening news.