A second stronger earthquake just struck the coast of Vancouver Island
A second earthquake has struck the coast of Vancouver Island less than three hours after one hit the region this morning.
According to the US Geological Survey, the second seismic event took place at 11:13 am PST. The magnitude 5.6 earthquake had an epicentre 170 km west of Port Hardy, and 321 km west-northwest of Tofino, which places it just a few kilometres away from this morning’s initial quake.
The epicentre was also near the fault line that divides the Explorer Plate and the North American Plate. Similar to this morning’s quake, the depth of the earthquake was very shallow at only 10 km.
A tsunami is not expected.
Tsunami Info Stmt: M5.6 125mi W Port Alice, British Columbia 1113PST Dec 23: Tsunami NOT expected
— NWS Tsunami Alerts (@NWS_NTWC) December 23, 2019
This morning’s seismic activity registered as a magnitude 5.2 earthquake and occurred at 8:44 am PST.
While thousands of earthquakes occur in British Columbia every year, only a small fraction of them have a magnitude of 3.0 and over.
On July 3, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck near the same area as the quakes that took place this morning.
In October 2018, an unusual trio of major earthquakes struck within the span of an hour with magnitudes of 6.5, 6.6, and 6.8 — all in the same area off the northern coast of Vancouver Island.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 and over is considered a seismic event with significant destructive potency, especially if it were to hit with a shallow depth near population centres.
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