VICTORIA, British Columbia, Dec. 30 (UPI) — An earthquake struck Canada’s west coast, near the U.S. border, but no injuries or damages were reported.
Its epicenter was 11 miles northeast of Victoria, British Columbia, a city of 80,000, and 26 miles deep in the earth. Natural Resources Canada said the earthquake, which struck late Tuesday, measured 4.3-magnitude; The U.S. Geological Survey reported 4.8-magnitude.
Earthquakes Canada, an agency of the government’s Natural Resources Canada, said because of the depth of the quake, no reports of damage would be expected. Nonetheless, seismologist John Cassidy, a Victoria resident, commented, “It’s the largest earthquake in this region in many years…There is no pattern in this region for precursors to a larger earthquake, so this doesn’t really tell us anything about when a larger earthquake may occur in the future. But it’s very clearly a good reminder of the seismicity in this region, that we live in a very active earthquake zone.”
The epicenter was on Victoria Island, in the Pacific Ocean west of mainland British Columbia and the U.S. state of Washington. There were no reports of damage in San Juan County, Washington, adjacent to the border.
In Victoria, the Millennium and Expo lines of the SkyTrain, the city’s train and monorail system, were briefly shut down.
