Victoria got a light shaking and an emergency-preparedness reminder on Tuesday morning.
A magnitude-3.1 earthquake struck just south of Orcas Island, about 36 kilometres from Victoria, at 11:06 a.m., said Taimi Mulder, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada. The quake was felt in Victoria, Sidney, the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands.
The quake was quite deep, occurring at a depth of 55 kilometres in the Juan de Fuca plate, she said.
“In southwest B.C., we have earthquakes in three places: within the Juan de Fuca plate, within the North America plate and on the interface between the two plates,” Mulder said.
The Juan de Fuca plate is diving down underneath the edge of the North America plate. It lies west of Vancouver Island, Washington and Oregon and is slowly moving — about four millimetres a year — and diving underneath the North America plate.
“It touches the North America plate. And that interface, if that part was to rupture, that would be a magnitude-9 earthquake, the big Cascadia megathrust earthquake,” Mulder said. “This was much further down the plate. We classify it as a minor earthquake.”
No damage was reported.
According to Mulder, the earthquake is part of the regular pattern of seismic activity.
“Normally in southwestern B.C., we get three or four a year that people feel,” she said.
Tuesday’s earthquake is a good reminder to be prepared, Mulder said. “If you feel shaking, practise your duck, cover and hold.”
