No injuries, damage reported after small earthquake hits Banff

CALGARY — Natural Resources Canada confirms a 2.7 magnitude earthquake was felt in Banff Thursday night.

It happened around 5:42 p.m., about four kilometres southwest of the mountain townsite.

No injuries or damage have been reported in what Garry Rogers, a scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada, calls the 2.7 magnitude quake a “micro-earthquake.”

“If you’re right on top of it, it might be upsetting, but generally people in the region would just feel a mild shaking of just a second or two,” he said Thursday from Victoria, B.C.

NRC has received over 40 reports of weak shaking from Banff and nearby town Harvie Heights.

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Katie Kennedy was checking in guests at the Hidden Ridge resort on Tunnel Mountain in Banff when the quake hit.

“It felt like a giant bowling ball going around, everything just started shaking,” Kennedy said.

“It was pretty freaky.”

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Mayor Karen Sorensen says in her more than 30 years in Banff, she has never felt or heard anything like Thursday’s quake.

“I’m glad we’re not dealing with damage or injuries and I look forward to understanding more about it.”

Earthquakes are rare in Banff, but do occur every year in the Rockies, in places where there are no people to feel and report it, Rogers said.

He said there was a “quite sizable” earthquake just north of Banff in 1918 that was a magnitude 6.

Earlier this year, a 4.3 magnitude quake hit near Rocky Mountain House, which is about 260 kilometres northeast of Banff.

READ MORE: 4.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Rocky Mountain House

Since 1985, there have been nine earthquakes that measured over magnitude 3.7, according to NRC.

Earthquake experts say quakes that measure 2.5 or lower are generally not felt by people unless they are directly on top of the epicentre.

With files from The Canadian Press.