Another earthquake shakes awake some British Columbians

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This article was published 03/03/2025 (515 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER – An earthquake shook awake some residents of British Columbia’s south coast early Monday, marking the latest in a series of tremors in recent weeks.

Among them was Victoria resident Bailey Beauchemin, who says she was startled and “jumped out of bed” when the quake happened at around 5 a.m. 

Earthquakes Canada initially reported a magnitude of 4.8, then adjusted the magnitude to 4.1, saying the quake was centred about 44 kilometres northeast of Victoria and 75 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.

Alison Bird, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says the quake was part of the “usual seismic activity” for the region.

She says it was not related to the magnitude 4.7 quake that was widely felt across southwestern B.C. when it struck in an area of the Sunshine Coast on Feb. 21.

Bird says neither that quake nor Monday’s quake occurred along major faults and she would not expect them to foreshadow anything larger, but they serve as a good reminder for local residents who will see larger earthquakes in the future.

“We don’t know when, which is why I’m really excited that the earthquake early warning system is now up and running, and I encourage people to be prepared.”

Bird says the latest quakes have been relatively shallow and struck close to populated areas, which means they’re more likely to be widely felt.

“It depends partly on the depth of the earthquake, how far away it is, its magnitude — all these things can go into whether you feel an earthquake or not,” she says. “Also what kind of ground you’re on and what kind of building you’re in.”

The Feb. 21 and March 3 quakes both occurred along the North American plate, which the Juan de Fuca plate is pressing against and “subducting” beneath, Bird says.

“As a result, you end up with pressure in that North America plate, and it releases that stress in the form of earthquakes.”

There are usually about a dozen or more earthquakes in Western Canada each year that people report feeling, Bird adds.

By 11 a.m., Earthquakes Canada had received more than 5,800 reports from people who felt the latest quake, with no reports of damage.

Some people took to social media to describe being shaken awake by the tremor, including Vancouver city councillor Peter Meiszner, who says in a post on X that it shook his building in the city’s downtown.

The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center says there was no risk of a tsunami. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2025.