Earthquake Early Warning - Blog

Natural Resources Canada has launched an introductory version of its redesigned significant event webpages, designed to provide more comprehensive earthquake information in a highly accessible format. The update introduces interactive maps of historical regional earthquakes, community intensity reports, and data from nearby monitoring stations. In addition, to further enhance public safety and awareness, ShakeMaps show the strength of ground shaking across different areas and provide specific details on earthquake ruptures. To ensure a smooth transition for technical users, the old and new versions of the pages will be available in parallel for a limited time.

Twenty-five years ago, the region around Olympia and Seattle in Washington State, and Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia, were shaken by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake. The event occurred at a depth of 52km, within the Juan de Fuca Plate, beneath the North American Plate. Shaking caused damage to older masonry buildings in the vicinity of Olympia and Seattle, broke windows at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, and damaged roadways. In Victoria, light shaking toppled items from shelves and produced minor cracks in drywall and old pipes. Had the earthquake been shallower, the damage would have been considerably worse; the earthquake would have been closer to surface and the infrastructure, and the shaking would have been stronger.

Had the Earthquake Early Warning system been operational at that time, Victoria would have received approximately 20 seconds of warning and Vancouver 30 seconds. This provides time for people to protect themselves - to drop, cover, and hold on. Gradually, critical infrastructure operators and other Technical Partners of the EEW system will be able to trigger automated technologies at their facilities, for example, to open doors, close valves, stop trains, and sound alarms.

Last week, NRCan earthquake seismologist, Alison Bird, attended the Building Resilient Communities conference in Penticton, BC. The conference brings together emergency managers and planners from local governments, First Nations, and other organizations, plus critical infrastructure operators. This was an ideal venue for Bird to present Canada’s earthquakes, associated hazards, and earthquake early warning system. She participated in numerous fruitful discussions on natural hazards and ways to be resilient, including early warnings. By sharing experiences, best practices, and emerging technologies, Canada’s communities are able to improve their resilience to earthquakes, wildfires, floods, landslides, and severe weather events.

Today, Natural Resources Canada initiated the eastern segment of the national Earthquake Early Warning system, for high-risk regions of Ontario and Quebec. Over 200 EEW stations are working together to monitor and alert for powerful earthquakes in the provinces, providing seconds to tens-of-seconds of warning before the arrival of strong shaking. People will be alerted through the National Public Alerting System, via smart-phone, radio, and television; this is fully automatic and requires no registration nor app. When an EEW is received, people should immediately protect themselves - drop, cover, and hold on. In the future, critical infrastructure operators and other Technical Partners of the EEW system will be able to trigger automated technologies at their facilities, for example, to open doors, close valves, stop trains, and sound alarms.

On Thursday, 16th October, approximately 60 million people around the world practised the Drop, Cover, Hold on response, in case of an earthquake. In Canada, over 865,000 people participated in this annual drill. They are therefore more likely to protect themselves when they receive an Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) or feel shaking.

In Quebec and Ontario, ShakeOut (Grande Sécousse) drills were held in numerous primary schools, Grande Secousse was promoted via social media platforms, and informational segments were given by one of NRCan’s eastern seismologists, on radio and television stations throughout the day – using this as an opportunity to promote the EEW system which will soon be launched in Quebec and eastern Ontario.

Le même sismologue a également animé un webinaire pour les coordinateurs municipaux sur les risques sismiques, la Grande Sécousse et les ASP, ainsi qu’un atelier sur les mêmes sujets pour les municipalités et les organisations de la région métropolitaine de Montréal. De plus, un paléosismologue régional a été filmé dans le cadre d’une série de vidéos d’information sur le risque sismique et la Grande Sécousse.

In the Yukon, the Yukon Government promoted earthquake awareness and the Drop, Cover, Hold on response via social media and an information bulletin.

For three days last week, one of NRCan’s seismologists assisted a field technologist to service five earthquake monitoring stations on Vancouver Island, at Chemainus, Campbell River, Elk Falls, Gold River, and Myra Falls in Strathcona Park. Repairs and maintenance like this help to ensure the reliable, continuous operation of NRCan’s seismic and GNSS (global navigation satellite system) networks to monitor, alert (as part of the national Earthquake Early Warning system), and research earthquakes.

Many of NRCan’s stations are located in rugged and coastal terrains, requiring slow drives along rough roads, hiking, and, occasionally, helicopter or boat travel to access them. Fieldwork also takes place in Canada’s myriad of weathers, which can pose additional challenges. At the last station, near Myra Falls Mine, the duo were therefore relieved the weather was dry as they replaced the station’s GNSS monitoring equipment.

The fieldwork often gets supported by collaborator organisations; in this case, the crew were grateful for the assistance of staff at Myra Falls Mine, RCMP, BC Ferries, and West Coast Marine Terminal (Gold River).

Over the past week, NRCan’s earthquake seismologist Alison Bird and seismic network operations manager Lisa Nykolaishen travelled to Haida Gwaii. They visited the archipelago’s communities, briefing Masset Village Council and Skidegate Band Council on the Earthquake Early Warning system; giving presentations to the communities of Old Massett / Masset, Port Clements, Skidegate / Daajing Giids, and Sandspit; and meeting with the islands’ Emergency Managers and Planners.

Alison and Lisa also enjoyed a morning with the students of Agnes L Mathers Elementary School in Sandspit, where one of the School Shake project’s Raspberry Shake sensors is located. The students showed off their knowledge of the region’s earthquakes, and grilled Alison and Lisa on various aspects of geophysics.

On 21st February 2025, an earthquake occurred northeast of Sechelt and north of Vancouver, British Columbia. The event caused the activation of the national Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system, operated by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). The EEW system functioned exactly as designed: automatically detecting the earthquake, assessing that it met thresholds for potential harm (magnitude ≥ 5, and shaking with MMI ≥ IV), and transmitting information to the National Public Alerting System (NPAS), indicating where people should be alerted. NPAS then distributed alerts to the public to cell towers aimed at the red polygon show in the map below, and via broadcast media (radios and televisions) within census subdivisions (chartreuse regions). Due to the complicated nature of alerting through cell networks, some phones outside the EEW region also received the alert.

Following the earthquake, NRCan seismologists answered hundreds of calls from the media and public to explain details of the event. In addition, people submitted nearly 7,500 “Did you feel it?” reports of their experience of the earthquake, which are important for understanding the effects of this event and future earthquakes in the region. There have been no reports of damage or injury, but people reported feeling shaking as far as 300 kilometers from the epicenter.

This was an ideal opportunity for people to learn about EEW from a moderate earthquake, so that they can be ready to react when they receive an alert for a larger event.

An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7 struck the Charlevoix region the evening of 5th February 1663. Records suggest it was felt throughout eastern North America. Damage was mostly to chimneys and to a few masonry walls and homes in Quebec and New England.

Earthquakes often result in secondary hazards. For example, numerous landslides and rock falls were reported along the St. Lawrence River, Saguenay River, Gouffre River, and St. Maurice valley. Landslides would have been especially likely if the earthquake followed a period of heavy rainfall in the region; while this is suspected, it has not been proven.

Were a similar earthquake to occur in this region once the EEW system is operational, Quebec City would have approximately 25 seconds of warning, Trois Rivieres ~55s, Fredericton ~80s, and Montreal ~90s. This would give ample time for protective actions to be taken by critical infrastructure facilities and people.