Just had an earthquake

[MountainBiker]

We just had an earthquake in Southern Ontario. Not much really, I thought a big truck was driving by the house
News says it was a 5 to 5.5

Of, course it is all the news is talking about here right now

[legojenn]

I am not sure if it's one or many earthquakes. We felt it here too. I was in my office on the 14th floor. The floor started moving up and down like when the home team gets a goal in a hockey arena (and runs up the score against the Leafs) and everyone jumps up at the same time. I never experienced anything like it before.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Earth ... story.html

The epicentre appears to be in Val-des-Bois, QC, which is about 75km north of Ottawa.

With the President of China in town, the G20 meeting coming up in Toronto, recent local arrests for what is being labelled terrorism from an incident in the spring and it being close to the solstice, I thought that maybe it wasn't a natural occurence.

[MountainBiker]

From what I heard, it was Quebec, New York, and as far north as Sudbury.

Typical Toronto, they evacuated schools and buildings, but I think it may have been because of all the G8 and G20 hype. The News media thought they had a big story on their hands, and it turned out to be a mild earthquake

[eamarquardt]

We just had an earthquake in Southern Ontario. Not much really, I thought a big truck was driving by the house
News says it was a 5 to 5.5

Of, course it is all the news is talking about here right now

To a native Souther Californian 5.5 is a "baby quake". I was only a few miles from the epicenter of the 6.6 Sylmar quake in '71. I got outta bed and into a doorjamb but even holding on to the door jamb with both hands I was shaken to my knees!

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... fulltext=1

I was a bit further from the epicenter of the Northridge 6.7 in 94 but had to report to the telephone company's emergency operating center which was on the other side of the epicenter. Very spooky driving by fallen bridges, buildings where the parts of the exterior walls were missing, and houses that were in the process of burning to the ground as there was no water/pressure to fight them with!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Northridge_earthquake

Rumor has it one of the biggest earthquakes to hit the US was in the Mississippi Valley in 1811/1812.

http://www.eas.slu.edu/Earthquake_Cente ... treet.html

I'd hate to be in one of the many unreinforced masonary buildings that are so common in many areas of the country WHEN (as there is no if) another big one hits.

Not so cheery when it comes to earthquakes but you stand a good chance of walking away intact if the proper precautions are taken.

Gus

[Fenlason]

We did not feel it here at the house.. but it was on the news that it was felt in town.. Central Maine..

[MountainBiker]

We have the whole worlds news media here right now because of the G8 and G20 World Summit. I think all the news media have nothing better to do than to interview each other about the quake.

Not sure how the scale goes, but isn't a 6.5 ten times as strong as a 5.5?

[Fenlason]

We have the whole worlds news media here right now because of the G8 and G20 World Summit. I think all the news media have nothing better to do than to interview each other about the quake.

Not sure how the scale goes, but isn't a 6.5 ten times as strong as a 5.5?

That is correct.

[Mightydog]

We have the whole worlds news media here right now because of the G8 and G20 World Summit. I think all the news media have nothing better to do than to interview each other about the quake.

Not sure how the scale goes, but isn't a 6.5 ten times as strong as a 5.5?

That is correct.

But with the exchange rate being better than usual, a Canadian 6.5 is like a 6.0 in the US.

[Fenlason]

We have the whole worlds news media here right now because of the G8 and G20 World Summit. I think all the news media have nothing better to do than to interview each other about the quake.

Not sure how the scale goes, but isn't a 6.5 ten times as strong as a 5.5?

That is correct.

But with the exchange rate being better than usual, a Canadian 6.5 is like a 6.0 in the US.

[legojenn]

But with the exchange rate being better than usual, a Canadian 6.5 is like a 6.0 in the US.

If you use a credit card to exchange your earthquake, they'll take another 2.5% on the conversion.

[MountainBiker]

You guys are crazy...I think I will like it here

Glad that "she who must be obeyed" otherwise known as Glampergirl, found you

[caseydog]

I'm not at all surprised, since December 2012 is only 18 months away.

Does BP have any oil wells in Ontario?

CD

[MountainBiker]

Heard on the news this morning that ther are 500,000 earthquakes a year with about 1/5 being felt.

I am amazed at how technology affects our view on things these days
About 30 years ago there was an earthquake up in the Ottawa region, that I did not know about till few weeks later when I talked to my Dad who lives there.

Yesterday, I was getting e-mails from friends within about 5 minutes, and posted something to this site and heard back from someone within five minutes

It reminds me of that quote from the weather forcaster last year.
"The number of tornado's have not increased. The number of people with camera's in their cell phones, taking pictures of tornado's, have increased"

[swissarmygirl]

It was felt in NJ too. They were talking about it on the local news.

[teardrop_focus]

MountainBiker

Not sure how the scale goes, but isn't a 6.5 ten times as strong as a 5.5?

Fenlason

That is correct.

But wait!; there's more...

Richter Scale definitions as seen on the int4rwebz:

Logarithmic scale for measuring earthquake magnitude. A magnitude 7.0 earthquake generates 10 times larger amplitude waves than those of a magnitude 6.0, and releases 32 times more energy...

A value on the Richter scale; A logarithmic scale used to express the energy released by an earthquake, each increase of 1 representing a 32-fold increase in energy...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl ... d=0CBYQkAE



Then there's this particular page, which gets even more interesting technically as one scrolls down...