Thursday July 4, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
It’s another wakeup call that earthquakes happen around Vancouver Island.
This morning July 4 at 6:18:06 am PDT there was a 4.3 Magnitude quake off the west coast of Vancouver Island, out in the middle of the ocean.
The location of the epicentre was 190 km SW of Port Alice and 216 km SW of Vernon, Mount Waddington, BC.
It was a relatively shallow quake at a depth of 5 km, but the earthquake was not felt and no tsunami would be expected, according to National Resources Canada (NRC).
Weather at time of quake: clear sky, 13.3°C, humidity 83%, light wind 19 knots from NNW.
Quakes all the time:
Earthquakes of various sizes happen every day around the word, with many of them in BC though most of them small.
Yesterday there was a 3.9 M quake that occurred 252 km WSW of Tofino (listed within the category of ‘significant quakes’ by Natural Resources Canada).
The Big One:
Obviously there is no idea when ‘the big one’ (earthquake of 9.0 M or greater) will happen, but emergency preparedness personnel continue to remind people living in the coastal BC area to be prepared.
People are encouraged to have an emergency kit in the home, office and car. Every member of the family should have a grab-and-go bag (pack for ‘essential’ as well as ‘peace of mind’).
Water and food supplies will be essential after any major seismic event. Communities and schools have various levels of preparedness for water, food and safety gear.
The last quake along the west coast Cascadia fault line was in 1700. Seismic specialists say the fault line is expected to cause a major seismic event at least every 300 years. We are now at the 324 year mark.
===== LINKS:
Updates about the July 4, 2024 earthquake west of Port Alice are on the Natural Resources Canada website.
Updates about the July 3, 2024 earthquake off Tofino are on the Natural Resources Canada website.
RECENT EARTHQUAKES (NRC)