Earthquakes felt in Peace Region

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Multiple earthquakes were felt in the Peace region Thursday morning, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Seismologist Andrew Schaeffer said three earthquakes occurred near Reno, Alberta, within 20 minutes of each other and were felt across a wide area, including in the Peace region.

The first was a 4.5-magnitude earthquake about 26 kilometres northeast of Reno, the second was a 4.6-magnitude earthquake about 35 kilometres northeast of Reno, and the last was a 3.8-magnitude earthquake 21 kilometres northeast of Reno.

Schaeffer said the locations of the earthquakes were also close to the seismic event on November 29th, which was also felt in Dawson Creek and Fort St. John.

So far, there have been no reports of damage, which Schaeffer said isn’t expected based on the depth of the earthquakes and distance from Reno.

Each earthquake on Thursday morning was between five and ten kilometres in depth.

Natural Resource Canada is currently looking into the cause of the earthquakes.

“We’ve been dealing with the Alberta Energy Regulator, and at the moment, the sequence of events is still under determination as to whether it may be induced or not,” Shaeffer said.

The seismologist said the other possibility is that these earthquakes are aftershocks from the November event.

“It is a long gap of time in between the November event, but they are a bit smaller and right in the same area,” Shaeffer explained.

He also doesn’t expect a cause for the earthquakes to be determined easily.

“It’s actually quite complex to model and figure that out,” Shaeffer said.

“It’s very complicated. It requires some pretty in-depth modelling and study. It’s not just a case of looking at where it occurred.”

The Peace region has felt multiple earthquakes in the past year, including industry-related quakes in January.