A mine blast over the weekend registered as a 2 point 6 magnitude earthquake north of Williams Lake.
Joseph Farrugia, a Seismologist with Natural Resource Canada said based on the information from their recordings the blast was from Gibraltar mines and not a natural earthquake on Sunday afternoon at 5:30.
Farrugia also noted that mine blasts show up pretty regularly on their recordings.
“They usually happen between 9 am to 5 pm, this one was just outside of 5 pm so it’s still not out of the ordinary. So they typically happen during the day on a fairly regular basis and they’re recorded just like actual earthquakes they just look a little bit different and they happen at the surface so that’s another distinction between a blast and natural earthquakes.”
Farrugia added that a magnitude 2.6 might be lightly felt if you’re very close, you’re very nearby, just like if a big truck is driving by or lots of construction is happening nearby, you might feel some light shaking, but typically in terms of severity, not severe at all. If you’re in Williams Lake you’re probably not going to feel this blast at a 2.6.
“It always helps us here at Natural Resource Canada if anybody does feel shaking, whether it’s a blast or a natural earthquake to report that to our website, earthquakescanada.ca because this type of information does help us.” Farrugia said.
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