At 8:04 pm on October 27th, 2012, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake happened on the Queen Charlotte fault, the epicenter striking the island of Haida Gwaii on the southern end at Moresby Island. There was over 50 aftershocks, some as big as 6.3 magnitude; this was the biggest quake that Canada has seen since 1949, which also happened on the Queen Charlotte fault with a magnitude of 8.1. Furthermore, in 1929 a magnitude 7.0 hit at this same fault, also making the list of top ten earthquakes in Canada ever.
Seismograph of the quake.
Haida Gwaii (meaning “Islands of the People”, translated from Haida) is an archipelago off the north-west coast of BC, south of Alaska. The epicentre of the earthquake hit near the town of Queen Charlotte, and the length of the violent shaking ranged from 30 seconds to a minute. However, the worst property damage that was done here was items in houses falling and breaking; and absolutely no one was hurt. This is because the population on the whole island is only about 5,000 and there are no tall buildings that could fall and cause damage.
A tsunami warning was issued soon after the earthquake, causing all the residents of Masset and surrounding communities, which is the northern end of the island, to evacuate to higher ground. The largest wave for the islands was about 25 cm at Langara island which didn’t hit where people lived and residents of Masset could return to their homes safe and sound. The Queen Charlotte fault is a strike slip fault which usually isn’t the type of fault that produces tsunamis but when an entire community lives by the waterfront, it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Although no immediate damage was caused, this earthquake does have serious implications. Firstly, it caused the famous hot spring in Gwaii Haanas (“Beautiful Land”) to dry up and go cold. This will be devastating to both the tourism aspect of the community as well as the locals no longer having that spiritual spot. Secondly, this is another reason why the Northern Gateway Pipeline should not go through, because high magnitude earthquakes often hit Haida Gwaii and the island always bounces back but if oil gets into the situation, the results could be catastrophic.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Earthquake+empties+famed+Haida+Gwaii+springs/7484352/story.html
Ernie Gladstone standing in the now dried up hot springs.
This story hits home for me, (literally, sorry for the pun) because I grew up on Haida Gwaii and my father’s side of the family resides in Skidegate, which is about 25 km from the epicenter, and experienced the whole house shake for an entire minute. Also, my mother and all my family on her side live in Old Massett and they had to evacuate up to higher ground. It was a fretful Saturday night for me waiting for updates on their safety. Here is a video that made the Vancouver Sun of footage of the quake, shot at my Aunty’s wedding:
Post by Vanessa Fladmark
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