Hi

I live in Ottawa and many building were evacuated. I have never seen so many building evacuated at the same time.

From http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/23/tor-earthquake.html

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Quebec quake damages buildings, highway

5.0-magnitude tremor felt in U.S., southern Ontario

The temblor hit at 1:41 p.m. ET south of Echo Lake, Que., 60 kilometres north of Ottawa near the Ontario border, and was felt across southern and eastern Ontario and western Quebec, as well as in some U.S. states, including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Jersey and New York.





Johanna Wagstaffe, a CBC seismologist and meteorologist, said earthquakes in this part of Canada are rare, "but we do have them."

She said there are small fault lines along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, as well as a relatively active fault line that runs parallel to the St. Lawrence Valley.

The last comparable earthquake on that fault line was a 5.4-magnitude temblor in 1998, she said.

Janet Drysdale, a seismologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said people should take precautions to protect themselves in the event of aftershocks, either by taking cover under a desk if the building is solidly constructed or leaving the building and getting a safe distance away if it is poorly constructed.

She said that because the Ottawa area is in an earthquake zone, most of the buildings have been built to withstand this type of earthquake.





Buildings were evacuated throughout downtown Ottawa. (Submitted by Caleigh Windolf)
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WIEL