Another earthquake affected southwest British Columbia this morning. It hit just off the shores of Orcas Island and was felt across Vancouver Island, Metro Vancouver, and Washington State.
Earthquake Seismologist with Natural Resources Canada in Victoria, John Cassidy says that a felt earthquake for as long as it was – about ten seconds – is ‘pretty long.’
“It is pretty long,” he says. “Often these little felt earthquakes, and we do have maybe half a dozen earthquakes that are felt around the southern part of the island each year, typically one or two seconds of shaking.”
From a magnitude perspective, Earthquakes Canada registered it at a 4.1 on the Richter scale and a depth of 17 kilometres below ground at 5:02 am Pacific time. They say it was lightly felt around Victoria and Vancouver, with no damage reported.
That was quite the shake here in #Victoria 🇨🇦 at 05:02 PT. M4.6 near Orcas Island, 45 km ENE from Victoria and 70 km from Vancouver. Felt all across southwest BC and northwest WA. Details and to report shaking: https://t.co/If8KLKF93n
USGS: https://t.co/gBULngUbre pic.twitter.com/Gy0w1XQtYl— John Cassidy (@earthquakeguy) March 3, 2025
It’s the fourth earthquake that has been felt by people in the area within the past month and the third in the last ten days. A 3.6 was felt in Victoria on Feb. 13, another 2.5 in Victoria on Feb. 21, and a 4.7 was registered in Sechelt also on Feb. 21.
“We record tiny earthquakes every single day all through this area,” he says. “So it’s not unusual to see earthquakes occurring around Victoria, Sechelt, and the west coast. They’re happening all the time. They’re generally just a little bit smaller. What is different this time is that we’ve had three ‘felt’ earthquakes here on the south island and southwest British Columbia in a relatively short time window of about ten days.”
He says that thousands reported feeling this morning’s quake and about ten thousand felt the one in Sechelt. Now, is the increase of smaller events an indication that a major earthquake is coming?
“It’s always the first question that we get,” says Cassidy. “It doesn’t mean that we’re closer and it also doesn’t mean that we’re less likely to get a big earthquake. The amount of energy released in the little earthquakes – like today’s – is really a drop in the bucket compared to a very large event.”
Cassidy says that major tectonic events happen decades or even centuries apart. The last major event on Vancouver Island happened in 1946, it was a 7.3 magnitude which he says was about 1,000 times stronger than today’s. In those rare major events, like the one in Chile earthquake in 2010, he says shaking could last four to five minutes. It’s been 325 years since one like that has happened in our region.
Interview Audio of John Cassidy with Vista Radio’s Nicholas Arnold
In terms of damage to buildings, Cassidy says we generally see damage within tens of kilometres at a 5 to 5.5 magnitude. At that threshold, a new system in place will send an alert, a similar protocol to when an Amber Alert for a missing child is sent out. Alerts were sent in the Sechelt incident in February, but today’s event was not severe enough to meet that threshold.
“Today’s earthquake is a reminder that we live in an active earthquake zone. That we’ve seen much larger earthquakes in the past and that the importance of knowing what to do when that shaking begins and being prepared,” he says.
The BC government has a webpage dedicated to earthquake preparedness if you need a refresher. Cassidy’s suggestion is to remember “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”
“It’s so important,” he says. “The hold on is because during large earthquakes and very strong shaking, furniture can move away from you and you want to protect yourself from falling items.
“There are a lot of simple things that we can do to be better prepared for earthquakes. Don’t have a heavy picture over your bed that’s going to fall on you in the night. Have a flashlight, and a pair of solid shoes under your bed so you can move around your house after the shaking if there’s broken glass or a power outage.”
Cassidy is also a member of the faculty at the University of Victoria. You can find him on X @earthquakeguy.
