Reuters AlertNet Lite - Earthquake rattles Canadian mining town

Reuters AlertNet Full site

NEWSDESK

Earthquake rattles Canadian mining town

29 Nov 2006 17:48:28 GMT
Source: Reuters

TORONTO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A small earthquake that awoke residents in a northern Ontario city early on Wednesday did not cause any damage or injuries, officials said, though one major mining company said it was still conducting precautionary inspections.

An earthquake of magnitude of 4.1 struck the mining town of Sudbury, about 390 km (240 miles) north of Toronto, at 2:22 a.m. (0722 GMT) on Wednesday and was followed by a pair of aftershocks at 2:36 a.m. and 2:38 a.m..

Officials said the earthquake was a little stronger than the area is used to but not totally unexpected as the region is known for scattered earthquake activity.

"Relative to earthquakes around the world it is still quite a small event," said Stephen Halchuk, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada. "Just large enough to shake you strongly but certainly not damage anything."

Halchuk said the earthquake rattled dishes in people's houses and sounded like a heavy truck driving by.

"We received a number of calls but mostly from people who wanted to know if we knew what it was," said Constable Bert Lapalme of the Sudbury Police. "This was a little stronger than usual, but in regards to injuries or damage nothing was reported to police."

Sudbury has a population of about 155,000 and is known for its mining industry, notably the huge nickel operations owned by CVRD-Inco <N.TO> <VALE5.SA> and Xstrata Plc's <XTA.L> Falconbridge.

CVRD-Inco said there were no reports of damage or injury at its Creighton mine in the area but said it has no plans to send any production personnel below the 5,000-foot level as a precautionary measure until inspection are completed.

AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article Send comments

Topics

• Earthquakes

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.

Reset map

• Brazil profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

• Shelters clinging to the mountainside
Medair - Switzerland

• Alliance urges action to close the HIV services gap at International Development Committee session on global HIV epidemic
International HIV/AIDS Alliance - UK

• The need for urgent international action on cluster munitions
ICRC - Switzerland

• Carpenter builds again for his family's future--Long-term recovery on Nias island, Indonesia
CWS

• ACT Dateline, Indonesia: Carpenter builds again for his family's future
ACT - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

• Earthquake rattles Canadian mining town

• Atrocities daily in Sudan's Darfur-UN rights chief

• FACTBOX-U.S. climate change lawsuit part of wider trend

• Roadside bomb kills 2 NATO soldiers in Afghanistan

• Atrocities daily in Sudan's Darfur-UN rights chief

MORE >>

Last updated:Wed Nov 29 17:50:02 2006