Long-time resident Charlene Hershmiller said her trailer started shaking when a 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck 13 kilometres east of Esterhazy, Sask.
“It shook the whole trailer. It shook my bed, shook my deck,” Hershmiller remembered.
She lives in a trailer in town and said the earthquake shook her awake.
“I could hear my plates rattling,” she said.
According to Natural Resources Canada, the quake happened Monday at 4:40 a.m. CT. Over 20 felt-reports were filed through the website, ranging from weak to moderate shaking.
READ MORE: 3.8 magnitude earthquake hits southeast of Yorkton, Sask.
Lacey Moore also lives in Esterhazy. She said she’s experienced quite a few earthquakes living in the area.
“The tremors happen quite often. This one was maybe bigger than usual,” Moore said.
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Moore said the shaking forced her awake, and what was just seconds felt much longer.
“It seems long when you’re going through it,” she described.
According to Natural Resources Canada, the epicentre of the earthquake was 13 kilometres east of the town.
Around Esterhazy, some residents pointed to the nearby Mosaic potash mine as being the trigger and cause of Monday’s quake.
READ MORE: Fracking, not disposal, behind human-caused earthquakes in western Canada: study
According to seismologist Dr. Honn Kao of the Geological Survey of Canada, he doesn’t think the activity in the region is responsible for Monday’s earthquake.
“The magnitude of this size, 3.8 will require accumulation of tectonic stress. Man-made activity will not cause this kind of magnitude event unless it’s nuclear explosion which I definitely don’t think is the case here,” Kao explained.
However, Kao said in the past, earthquakes have been linked to mining and fracking.
Regarding Monday’s event, he said further investigation and research is required, and with information from local mining authorities to determine what exactly happened.
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