West Shore reacts after 2.1M quake hits south side of Vancouver Island

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WATCH: An earthquake shook parts of Vancouver Island. The epicentre was somewhere near Langford hitting Monday night around 7 p.m. Luisa Alvarez spoke to eyewitnesses.

Hundreds of people around the West Shore took to social media reporting a rumbling and shaking sensation Monday night after a small earthquake hit the south side of Vancouver Island.

“My wife and I were chilling out and suddenly there was a boom as though something had hit the foundation or an explosion or something,” said Peter Scott.

Although the 2.1 magnitude quake is considered tiny it was enough to interrupt Metchosin’s city council meeting.

“The official record states that at 7:02 the meeting was interrupted by an earthquake. That’s the first time something like that has ever happened in Metchosin” said Deputy Mayor Bob Gramigna.

Seismologist John Cassidy said the quake is just one of the millions that happen around the world each year.

“It’s a pretty small pretty common earthquake but because it was close to population centres it was widely felt,” said John Cassidy.

What was different about this one was its depth. According to Cassidy most of the earthquakes felt in this region are down 15 to 25 kilometres below the surface. This particular one was reported by Natural Resources Canada as ten kilometres.

In other parts of the world the shallower the quake, the more damage it can cause but that is not the case.

” The most common type of damaging earthquake in this region is 40,50,60 kilometres below the surface, ” said Cassidy.

As experts continue to study Monday night’s quake they say even these tiny ones should act as reminders that we are living in an active earthquake zone to jolt us out of our complacency.

Luisa AlvarezLuisa Alvarez

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