Residents all over Greater Victoria felt a rumble Friday morning.
“There was a magnitude 3.0 earthquake recorded at 8:45, recorded at about 20 to 25 kilometres deep,” said Edwin Nissan, an earth and ocean sciences associate professor at UVic.
Just six kilometres off the east coast of Southern Vancouver Island, an earthquake shook the waters.
Although very close to Oak Bay and Gordon Head, many residents didn’t feel the shake.
Nissan says those closest to the epicentre of an earthquake are expected to feel it the most, but it also depends on the rock you stand on.
“What’s under our feet, the bedrock, in some areas, if you live on hard bedrock, you tend to feel less shaking, if you live on softer bedrock, you’ll tend to feel more shaking.”
He believes this is why the rumbles were felt this morning by some people all the way in Saanichton and Esquimalt, and why some, mere kilometres away, didn’t.
Nissan says bedrock isn’t the same all throughout each municipality. He says many areas in Oak Bay often have looser grounds, but just kilometres away, the Cedar Hill area, is on solid bedrock.
Although a series of small earthquakes is safer than one large one, Nisson says this morning’s shake was not on the same fault line as the one capable of large and dangerous 10-magnitude earthquakes.
“Although this earthquake is small, it’s a good reminder that we live on a tectonically active zone, the big one will happen one day, but we don’t know when,” said the earthquake professor.
But according to emergency experts, most people here on the Southern Island aren’t prepared at all.
“It recently came out that 80 per cent of Victorians, don’t have any sort of emergency supplies, emergency kit, even though 90 per cent of people think they should have one,” said Zenia Platten, service manager at Total Prepare Emergency Preparedness Solutions.
If you don’t have an emergency kit at home, now is the time to make one, said Platten, reminding everyone that emergencies can’t be planned.
“They can strike at any time, they don’t wait, they’re not going to wait until you’re ready and you have a fridge full of food,” said Platten.
Science may never predict when the expected “big one” will hit but officials say it’s best always be ready.
Platten says all emergency kits should have water, blankets, flashlights, extra batteries and enough food for seven days.
For a full list of what should be in your kit, click here.
Rebecca Lawrence
