A large earthquake near America’s northern border has rattled millions in the southern part of Canada and sent shockwaves across multiple US states.
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake struck at 12.36pm ET on Tuesday just 40 miles north of Ottawa, Ontario – a city of more than 1.1 million people.
According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the shockwaves of this seismic event were felt by people in several nearby cities, including Montreal and its 4.4 million residents, and in northeastern US states such as New York and Vermont.
The Canadian counterpart of USGS, Earthquakes Canada, confirmed that the quake spread seismic waves across an area roughly 300 miles in diameter, generating thousands of reports of mild to moderate shaking.
The agency added that quakes of this magnitude are often felt across the region, but rarely cause significant damage.
A resident in Ottawa’s Constance Bay told CTV News: ‘The building was vibrating and it sounded like a large truck was going by at the beginning. It increased to where we felt the vibration in buildings.’
‘The house was shaking and it scared us,’ another person in Quebec’s Otter Lake area added.
There have been no reports of injuries at this time.
This is a breaking story. More details to follow.
The US Geological Survey detected a large quake in southern Canada, with shockwaves reaching upstate New York, Vermont, Montreal and Ottawa
Ottawa is just 40 miles from the quake’s epicenter and is home more than 1.1 million people
Canadian officials have reported that the quake was slightly weaker than what US monitoring stations have said, calling Tuesday’s event a 3.9 magnitude tremor.
Canada’s National Capital Region, which includes the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, has not suffered an earthquake stronger than magnitude 5.6 since officials in the country started keeping accurate seismic records after 1899.
That record-setting earthquake struck both Cornwall, Ontario and Massena, New York in the US in 1944. A pair of Canadian quakes in 2010 and 2013 were measured at around magnitude 5.0.
Reports of shaking were made across southern Canada, including Montreal (Right) which has a population of more than 4 million people
