Earthquake shakes Ottawa
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Photograph by : National Resources Canada / Dennis Leung, Ottawa Citizen
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Font: * * * * The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, February 24, 2006
An earthquake rattled Ottawa on Friday evening.
Residents reported the ground shook for about 30 seconds.
Natural Resources Canada said the magnitude 4.5 earthquake occurred at 8:39 p.m. and struck seven kilometres north of Thurso, Que., about 40 kilometres east of downtown Ottawa.
The U.S. Geological Service said the quake occurred about 15 kilometres underground.
The shaking was felt in as far west as Arnprior, as far east as Hawkesbury and in Chelsea, Que., about 20 kilometres north of Ottawa.
"It started as a rumble, then shaking ... the whole house was shaking and the glasses were rattling," said Jeff Thiessen, who lives in Manor Park.
Floralove Katz was having dinner in her Centretown residence at Frank and Metcalfe streets.
"The whole house was shaking violently," she said. "It started around 8:40 and lasted a good two minutes ... at least a minute ... we were all holding on to the dishes."
Ellen Thompson, who lives in Manotick, said she was sitting on her waterbed watching television.
"There was a swell in the waterbed going on here. The ceiling fan .. was not on, but it was vibrating."
Robert Chaffers said he thought snow was sliding off the steel roof of his Chelsea home. "We could here it coming for several seconds before the house shook," he said, adding that it was "like a gigantic truck or something coming down the road."
There were no immediate reports of any damage or injury.
© The Ottawa Citizen