4.2 magnitude tremor strikes Ottawa region of Canada

November 7, 2012 – BUCKINGHAM, Canada — An earthquake that rattled homes and shook people awake at 4:05 a.m. Tuesday was stronger than average for this region, but still too weak to do damage. Natural Resources Canada said the earthquake was centered near Buckingham, Quebec, and was a magnitude 4.2, compared to many small rumbles this region gets in the range of magnitudes 2 or 3. The U.S. Geological Survey has a slightly weaker estimate of 3.7, and says the location was southwest of Hawkesbury. Both institutions were giving early estimates only and these are subject to being refined as they see more data, including reports from people nearby. The USGS had received close to 100 responses from people in southern Quebec and Ontario by 5:30 a.m. It invites people to tell what they felt, and got 26 responses from Ottawa residents, 30 from Montreal, and several dozen from smaller communities as well as a scattering from Vermont and New York. While the magnitude 4.2 sounds big, it’s not nearly as big as the magnitude 5.0 that hit this region in June of 2010.On the earthquake scale, 5.0 is 10 times bigger than 4.0, which in turn is 10 times bigger than 3.0, and so on. –Ottawa Citizen