A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck a wide area northwest of Ottawa and was felt as far away as the GTA.
Earthquakes Canada reports the quake hit Shawville, Que., just before 10 a.m. Friday, and an aftershock — measuring 4.1 — followed less than 10 minutes later in the town northwest of the capital.
The original quake was powerful enough to shake the big stone and brick building that houses the municipal offices in Shawville, the community’s mayor said.
“The windowsill, the walls seemed to shift up and down,” Mayor Albert Armstrong said. “My cabinet behind me was shaking and twisting.
“I’ve lived here all my life and I’ve never witnessed one like that before.”
CityNews political specialist Cormac Mac Sweeney said the effects were milder in his Ottawa office building.
“I was standing looking out the window here, talking on the phone with my boss … and all of a sudden I just started to feel the floor shake beneath me,” he said.
“It wasn’t too drastic. It was just a small, little tremor and I immediately looked outside thinking, ‘Is there construction happening to the building? … Is there an earthquake?
“I think it’s really odd because somebody standing just about six feet away from me didn’t even feel it at all.”
And the quake was felt at least as far away as the GTA.
“I was sitting in my La-Z-Boy when I suddenly felt my chair start to shake,” Uxbridge resident Heather Delaat told CityNews.
“The window behind me was open and started to shake as my cat sat on the back of my chair. He started to meow. It was a bizarre feeling. My laptop was shaking as well and my fish tank water was vibrating … It lasted about 15 seconds.”
Ontario Provincial Police in Arnprior, Ont., not far from the epicentre, said they have received no reports of damage.
Twitter was flooded with reports of buildings shaking in southern Ontario for several seconds. Read some of the posts below.
[View the story “4.8-magnitude quake hits Braeside and felt in Toronto” on Storify]With files from The Canadian Press