Prince George was rocked by an earthquake at 3.07pm on Wednesday afternoon. A magnitude 3.4 earthquake struck 32 kilometers southwest of Prince George at a depth of five kilometers. A map, produced by Earthquakes Canada, shows that the earthquake occurred in the Baldy Hughes area. According to the Richter Scale, a 3.4 magnitude earthquake is classified as a minor earthquake – an earthquake that is often felt by people but rarely causes damage. Live data from an Earthquakes Canada seismic monitoring station in Fort St. James showed activity around the same time residents across the city reported feeling the ground shaking. The monitoring station Fort St. James is the closest station to Prince George reporting live data to the Earthquakes Canada website. Several earthquakes have been reported in northern BC. the last two days. A magnitude 3.2 earthquake struck 80 miles northwest of Fort St. John at 2:53 a.m. and a magnitude 1.9 earthquake struck 53 km west of the village of Queen Charlotte at 01:39 a.m. Wednesday. Ten other small earthquakes, measuring 1.4 to 2.5 on the Richter scale, have been reported near Fort St. John, in the village of Queen Charlotte. Masset and Bella Bella from Tuesday. Seismologist Taimi Mulder, with Natural Resources Canada, said earthquakes felt in northern B.C. they are associated with the interaction of oceanic tectonic plates, including the Juan de Fuca and Pacific plates, as they are driven beneath the North American plate. The conflict is essentially “crumpling up the edge of North America,” he explained. “It’s unusual for today, but not unusual in the bigger picture,” Mulder said. “Most are very small and people never feel them.” Every 10 to 20 years there tends to be a somewhat larger earthquake in the Prince George area, he added. The last major earthquake in Prince George was a magnitude 5.4 in 1986, he said. Wednesday’s quake was quite shallow, five kilometers below the surface, and quite close to the city, Mulder said, which may explain why the tremor was felt by so many people. “It was mentioned by a number of people to Prince George,” he said.
