Did you hear the rumbling? Did the crockery rattle and the lights sway? That was Mother Nature knocking on the door, reminding us that we live in an earthquake zone, that we should be prepared for something bigger.
The magnitude-6.7 quake occurred 10 kilometres, down about 85 kilometres south of Port Hardy at 8:10 p.m. Wednesday. It was felt all over the Island and Lower Mainland, with people as far away as Kelowna and Kamloops reporting that they felt the ground shaking.
No damage or injuries have been reported, thanks to the location of the earthquake鈥檚 epicentre. New Zealand鈥檚 2011 earthquake, which killed 185 people and caused extensive damage, was of lesser magnitude, but its proximity to the populated Christchurch region made all the difference.
It could happen here. It will happen here. We live in what鈥檚 called the Cascadia subduction zone, where 鈥済reat earthquakes,鈥� those of magnitude 8 or higher, occur about every 500 years, with the last one occurring in 1700.
So that gives us another 186 years, right? But that鈥檚 not how averages work in the cosmic crapshoot. Geologists predict a 37 per cent chance of a magnitude-8.2 quake within 50 years, and a 10 to 15 per cent chance of a magnitude-9 event within that same time frame.
Feeling lucky? Better to be prepared.
Next time Mother Nature comes knocking, she might not be so gentle.
