Vermonters feel shocks from minor Canadian quake
The Associated Press | October 11,2012
BURLINGTON — People in northern Vermont were awakened early Wednesday by a minor earthquake that struck in Canada more than 100 miles away.
The temblor was reported near Montreal at 12:19 a.m., causing some buildings to rumble for a few seconds and sending people scurrying briefly from their houses. There were no immediate reports of injuries or serious damage.
People in Vermont took to Facebook and Twitter to report they could feel the quake’s shocks as far away as Montpelier and Bristol.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had a magnitude of 3.9.
The earthquake occurred in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone, where people “have felt small earthquakes and suffered damage from larger ones for three centuries,” the USGS said.
The two largest damaging earthquakes in that zone took place in 1935 at the northwestern end of the zone and in 1732 in the southeastern end of the zone, where a 6.2 magnitude quake caused significant damage in Montreal.
“Earthquakes cause damage in the zone about once a decade. Smaller earthquakes are felt three or four times a year,” the USGS said.
The last significant earthquake to affect Vermont was on June 24, 2010. The 5.0 magnitude quake was centered near the Quebec-Ontario border and felt as far away as Cleveland.
