5.1 Earthquake shakes Ontario, Canada!

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

I hope all of our Canadian members in Ontario & Toronto are OK...report in if you felt the earthquake (which was also felt in parts of New York & Ohio), eh!

Read More: http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/17/world/americas/canada-quake/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

My first earthquake experience was while I was in uniform (Army), in Gnjilane, Kosovo in 2002 (kind of reminded me of 105 howitzer going off [http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=1083]).

Then, in Aug 2011 in Fredericksburg, VA, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake), what a wild ride under one's feet. First, the Mrs. and I heard a loud 'boom' and then our house and windows started to shake for around 30 seconds. I admit...we were very nervous (and scared

). Later on at or around 9:30pm, we felt a few 'mild' aftershocks, but that was about it.

"Was that an Earthquake...or did you just rock my world". Author Unknown

 

[ouch]

Yeow! Hope our Canadian brethren are safe and sound.

 

[Mick]

That's a pretty good sized thumper for the great white north.

We've had 2 here since we moved in 25 years ago and it is the only 2 in recorded history in this part of the US.

I grew up in L.A. so a little rumbling and shaking was normal but when it does it around here, it is just too weird.

 

[Toothpick]

yikes! hope all is well up there.

My first ever earthquake experience was around 3am here in Illinois. shook the house hard enough to wake me up. It also scared the bejesus out of me for a solid 4 seconds until it was done.

 

[Shave_Rat]

We felt a small aftershock here from that one in Ont... was weird, I'd never felt one before. Was pretty short and mild, luckily.

 

[ironfisted]

Well I didn't feel a thing but I am generally pretty oblivious to these things. In other words, I would assume that it was my tummy rumbling sooner than thinking it was an earthquake. I know my mother-in-law said she felt it, but it certainly wasn't anything of any significance.

 

[Doc4]

The Leafs were, briefly, in the playoffs. That has ended, so Mother Nature has to take steps to return things to a natural balance.

 

[rockviper]

18th floor office tower. We felt a repeating slight roll in the building for around 30 seconds or so. Sort of like if you were in a carriage and one of the wheels wasn't quite round.

 

[oc_in_fw]

The Leafs were, briefly, in the playoffs. That has ended, so Mother Nature has to take steps to return things to a natural balance.

Well, I figured Hell freezing over would have covered that

 

[T.Orso]

Didn't feel a thing, in downtown Toronto. What with the Leafs and construction everywhere and our present mayor I am getting numb to shocks, inconveniences and catastrophes.

 

[ImaRobot]

We didn't feel it in Kingston, well at least nobody in my office.

 

[cb91710]

I grew up in L.A. so a little rumbling and shaking was normal but when it does it around here, it is just too weird.

+1

Rarely feel anything smaller than a 4+

And the frequency is reflected in the shakemaps when comparing events out here on the coast with those in the midwest.
Now, I understand that geology impacts how intense a quake feels, and much of the midwest is old sediment that really carries the movement...

But a 4.0 will show on the shakemaps out here as a level 1-3, reported over a very small area.
Midwest, a 3.0 will show on the shakemaps as a level 4-5, reported over three states.

Now, the "levels" are determined by the software, and to do this, it looks at your answers to a set of questions. Some questions are objective... did anything fall? Did cracks appear? Were pictured displaced?
Others are a bit more subjective... How did you react? What was your response? Did others feel it? Did you have difficulty walking? So in an area that rarely has any activity, most of these subjective answers are going to be magnitudes higher than in areas like California and the PNW that are "war weary"

Last quake I felt, I had difficulty walking, but it was less due to the quake and more due to the Jim Beam

 

[cb91710]

yikes! hope all is well up there.

My first ever earthquake experience was around 3am here in Illinois. shook the house hard enough to wake me up. It also scared the bejesus out of me for a solid 4 seconds until it was done.

My first memory of a quake was the 1971 Sylmar quake.
Strong memories of Whittier Narrows, Northridge, Landers, Mexicali, and a number of others... but we've never had any physical damage, or even things fall off of the wall or shelves.
Worst thing to happen was the 5.4 Yorba Linda quake in '08... the vent pipe from our furnace fell from the insulated through-roof pipe. That quake was centered less than 5 miles away... maybe 2 miles from West Coast Shaving.

 

[ZZ Hop]

We didn't feel it in Kingston, well at least nobody in my office.

Also in Kingston and mistook it for the train until SWMBO texted me about it later in the day.

 

[GrimmFu]

I wasn't too bad for us here in South Georgian Bay; was out walking the dogs along the creek and felt a little shaky for a sec, and one dog looked at me kind of panicky. He doesn't like thunder, loud noises, etc. The other dog was oblivious! read about the tremor when I got home.

We had one a couple of years ago here that was really noticeable, shook the chandeliers and I though I was fainting, swaying all over the place. The geology is pretty solid here, but we still get the occasional rumble. Nothing like the hardcore CA folks though.

gb