Magnitude 4.4 moderate earthquake hits eastern Quebec

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake has shaken the Bas-Saint-Laurent, Gaspésie and Côte-Nord regions Thursday morning.

According to Earthquakes Canada, the epicentre of the tremor, which occurred at 10:21 a.m., was located 25 kilometres northeast of Mont-Joli, Que., in the St. Lawrence River.

It was felt as far away as Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Baie-des-Chaleurs, Baie-Comeau, and Sept-Îles.

In a post on Facebook, the City of Matane said no damage had been reported and added that its teams are trained and ready.

The CLSC Matane was evacuated as a precaution, but everyone re-entered the building, acccording to Santé Québec Bas-Saint-Laurent.

Moderate earthquake not common in region, says expert

Every year, about 450 earthquakes occur in the eastern part of the country. Of that number, an average of four exceed a magnitude of 4.0, according to the Earthquakes Canada website.

The Lower St-Lawrence area is considered a moderate earthquake zone, says Christopher Boucher, seismic analyst at Natural Resources Canada.

All along the St-Lawrence and up into the Ottawa Valley, it’s a region where hundreds of millions of years ago, two tectonic plates began to separate before the process then stopped, he said.

“That created really old faults, deep faults that can reactivate at any given moment and cause the earthquakes we feel today,” he said.

In general, he says they record lower magnitude earthquakes in the area every day.

The impact of this type of earthquake depends on a person’s proximity and the type of soil they’re standing on, said Boucher, but people can expect five to 10 seconds of shaking, or a back and forth swaying motion.

“I certainly wouldn’t call it common,” he said.

The last earthquake of this magnitude in the same region would have been in 1999, he said, south of Sept-Îles.

He encourages anyone who felt the earthquake to fill out a form on the Earthquakes Canada webpage.