Many on Salt Spring Island were jolted awake by a small earthquake Thursday, Sept. 26, and Earthquakes Canada said the shaking just after 4 a.m. measured magnitude 3.8 and was centred beneath the ocean east of Saanichton.
The earthquake’s magnitude was under the threshold for an early-detection system announced by the province this year, designed to warn both the public and emergency managers of quakes greater than 5.0 magnitude, with as much as 10 seconds lead time before they hit.
No damage was reported from Thursday’s earthquake.
Light shaking was widely noted on social media in Victoria and Vancouver, according to Earthquakes Canada, who measured the quake at a depth of 54.8 km. Earlier tremors this month –– a 1.6 magnitude quake on Sept. 2 near Victoria, and a 0.6 magnitude quake Sept. 16 east of Sidney –– had been felt by some on Vancouver Island, although Thursday morning’s quake was the most significant in the area for nearly a decade, according to Earthquakes Canada data.