Earthquakes in Eastern Canada

Joel Houle

Here’s a fun fact for you: There are, on average, over 4,000 earthquakes in Canada each year. Okay now, we only feel maybe about 50 of those, but still — 4,000!

Barb Ustina

And many of those earthquakes occur in Western Canada along the Pacific Coast. But Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces also see their fair share of seismic events.

Joel Houle

On this episode, we’ll be speaking with a seismologist who has spent over 30 years studying earthquakes in Eastern Canada.

Barb Ustina

What causes earthquakes? What’s a typical day in the life of a seismologist? What exactly is a seismologist? Stay tuned to find out.

Joel Houle

Welcome to a new episode of Simply Science, the podcast that talks about the amazing scientific work that our experts and Natural Resources Canada are doing. My name is Joel Houle.

Barb Ustina

And I’m Barb Ustina. How are you doing?

Joel Houle

I’m doing great, Barb; thanks for asking. Well, did you know this is actually episode number 40 of our podcast? Isn’t that amazing?

Barb Ustina

That is truly amazing. Now, I don’t think I was here for probably 30 of those episodes. So 30 of those you did on your own. And that is truly amazing — it’s a great milestone.

Joel Houle

Well, honestly, the first 30 were really like a dry run, like practice, until you joined the team and actually made it what it is today. So thank you, Barb. I think you brought it to the next level, and I’m really looking forward to the next 40 episodes.

Barb Ustina

You’re far too kind. You’re being far too kind. I ride on your coattails, for sure.

Joel Houle

Well, that’s what I tell people.

Barb Ustina

The next 40 episodes, we’re only going to get better with age and with experience.

Joel Houle

Exactly. So today we’re talking about earthquakes. So, Barb, have you yourself ever been in an actual earthquake?

Barb Ustina

Yes, as a matter of fact, I’ve been in at least a few of them and maybe many more, if most of them we don’t even feel. But I’ve felt at least four of them. The first time I was working in Toronto in an edit suite just off the 401 Highway, and it just felt like a giant truck rolled by. But we barely noticed it. But the largest earthquake I was in, it was in Japan. I was on the sixth floor of a hotel in Osaka, and it was about 5 a.m. Early in the morning, and I got an alert on my phone saying there was a 6.1 earthquake. And the curtains were swaying, the pictures were sort of shifting around on the wall. I looked at the alert and, believe it or not, I put my phone down and I went back to sleep. So I must have been very tired. How about you?

Joel Houle

Well, if I was in your shoes, I probably would have gone back to sleep too, because I’m a heavy sleeper. For me, maybe a few small ones. There was one that was more like a magnitude five about 10 years ago in Ottawa. And I was on the 10th floor of a 21-storey building, and you could feel the vibrations, and that was really cool. But honestly, I just kind of stood there and took it all in, and I just was amazed by all that. But I’m pretty sure that’s not what you’re supposed to do in the middle of an earthquake. So let’s not mention that to our guests today.

Barb Ustina

No, that’s just between you and me.

Joel Houle

Yeah, exactly. Well, speaking of our guest, should we bring them on?

Barb Ustina

Let’s do it.

Joel Houle

Our guest today is Maurice Lamontagne, a long-time seismologist and someone who’s really passionate about communicating science to the masses. And that’s probably why we’re such big fans of his here at Simply Science. Maurice, thank you for joining us.

Maurice Lamontagne

My pleasure.

Barb Ustina

Welcome. You’ve appeared a few times on Simply Science, but for those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before, can you start by telling us a bit about the work you do?

Maurice Lamontagne

Certainly. I’m an earthquake sociologist, so I’m looking at earthquakes, mainly those that occur in Eastern Canada. Eastern Canada is within the tectonic plate. So we don’t expect huge earthquakes. We don’t expect magnitude eight or nine like you see around the Pacific Rim, for example. But we do get earthquakes. It can be significant. Historically, we’ve had a magnitude 7.2 south of Newfoundland. We’ve had a history of many magnitude sixes.

So these — although they’re smaller than what you see in Japan or around the Pacific — they’re still sizable, and they can cause damage. So my duties were to locate earthquakes when they occurred. It was trying to better understand why they occur, where they occur. And when an earthquake occurs, it was going in the field to install portable seismographs to detect what you call aftershocks.

Joel Houle

So one thing that’s always been kind of interesting to me and I don’t quite understand — because I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention in science class back in the day. But I understand that in the Ring of Fire, you have two tectonic plates, one shifting under the other, and that’s what causes earthquakes. But in Eastern Canada, where you’re in the middle of a tectonic plate, how do earthquakes occur?

Maurice Lamontagne

Earthquakes, even in regions that we call inter-plate earthquakes — where plates meet — they always occur on a fault. A fault is a fracture of the rocks. And when an earthquake occurs, it’s caused by a very fast movement, a very abrupt movement along a fault. And the longer the fault surface that gets reactivated by the earthquake, the larger the earthquake is. So for magnitude nine, for example — like they had in Japan in 2011 — we’re talking about the fault events of about 550 km. So it’s just huge.

In Eastern Canada, we do have faults that were created historically many millions of years ago. And these fractures, these faults, when they’re put on under stress inside the Earth’s crust, sometimes you get reactivated. There’s a movement on this faults, and that’s an earthquake. But in a moderate earthquake, the fault length for a magnitude six is about 10 kilometres. So it’s nothing compared to the big earthquakes that you see elsewhere around the Ring of Fire, for example. But here we do have faults, and some of them get reactivated from time to time.

Barb Ustina

That’s really very interesting. I don’t think people always associate earthquakes with Eastern Canada and the fact that they can and have caused damage there. So that’s a really good point. And your work is focused there. Tell us a bit about that.

Maurice Lamontagne

Sometimes the field work is planned. When we know that earthquakes occur, the majority of them occur in predefined regions. Year after year, you see the same regions with earthquakes. Like in Quebec, for example, there’s three main regions: one of them is Charlevoix or Quebec City; another one is the lower St. Lawrence near Baie-Comeau and Sept-Iles; and another one would be what we call Western Quebec — the Laurentian, the Ottawa River Valley in Eastern Ontario. In these regions, that’s where most of the earthquakes appear.

So we do add more seismographs because when you add seismographs, you’re able to tell a lot more about the earthquake focus, for example — the focal depth at which they occur — and also the fault movement. When there’s a moderate-to-large earthquake, then we expect aftershocks. We rush into the field. We install our instruments to be able to detect the earthquake focus and also to know more about the geological environment in which these earthquakes have occurred.

Barb Ustina

I understand you also study earthquakes that occurred years ago — decades ago, maybe even centuries ago. How can studying these ancient earthquakes help us understand seismic activity today?

Maurice Lamontagne

Well, first of all, we tried to document this historical earthquakes in terms of their damage and also in terms of where the deal occurred. Because of what they call the seismic zoning. Seismic zoning is to determine the regions where earthquakes occur and also the impact of these earthquakes. And the seismic zoning is partly based on our knowledge of these historical earthquakes and also on the current detection of the smaller earthquakes — smaller; well, they could even be moderate from time to time. But the detection of the current earthquakes. So the history of earthquakes, plus the detection of the current ones, that helps us define the regions that are more susceptible to earthquakes.

And also we can refine our estimates of the ground motion that could be triggered by these earthquakes. And that’s included in what we call the seismic provisions in the national building codes. The building codes look at the probability of having certain ground motions caused by earthquakes, and that’s what we seismologists can provide to the people who put together the building codes.

Joel Houle

So you’ve done a lot of field work over the years. You must have some really interesting stories. What are your most memorable fieldwork experiences?

Maurice Lamontagne

Well, right at the beginning of my career in 1985, I was lucky enough to go in the Mackenzie Mountains, just north of British Columbia in the Northwest Territories. And, wow — what an introduction to the field work! The landscape was incredible. It was two very large earthquakes, 6.5 and 6.9, and that was just incredible. And after that, I had the opportunity of doing other field work in Northern Quebec and also in various regions of Eastern Canada. And every time I go in the field, it reminds me why I became a geological engineer: it was because of the field work — the idea of going in the field and being close to nature and trying to understand geological processes.

Another memory I have is my very short stay in Haiti after the larger one they had in 2010. And when I was there, it was mainly to talk to people about what earthquakes were and trying to give them good information about what happened and also what could happen in the weeks and months that followed that magnitude seven earthquake.

Joel Houle

So as someone who is, let’s say, a champion of communicating science to the masses, what are the challenges when it comes to communicating science when it comes to earthquakes?

Maurice Lamontagne

Well, I would say that in general, people are not that interested in geology until there’s an earthquake. And when there’s an earthquake, then people want to know. I think in terms of communicating to the public, it’s probably the number-one geological phenomenon that interests people because it always comes as a surprise. We can’t predict earthquakes. When they occur, everybody is surprised, including ourselves the seismologists, because it can be anytime, pretty much anywhere. And then people are willing to listen to explanations. And I must admit that throughout my carrier, I’ve had some media exposure, often on the radio right after the earthquake, explaining to people the size, the location. And also I was always trying to include some information about how to react and what to do after an earthquake and also, naturally, the possibility of aftershocks.

Barb Ustina

In having these conversations with the people in Haiti who experienced the earthquake, what kinds of stories did you hear? What did they tell you?

Maurice Lamontagne

I must admit that they were pretty much all in shock. For myself, it was difficult because naturally it was for most of them a traumatic event. Some of them had lost relatives or neighbors. Some of them had houses that were either damaged or completely collapsed. So it was a very moving experience. And I did my best to talk about earthquakes in a way that would show compassion for what these people had gone through. And right at the beginning, I told them that although I had been in a magnitude six earthquake before, and what they had experienced was way above anything that I had experienced myself. And they were probably more aware of the impact of earthquakes than I was because I was reading about the impact, whereas in their case, they lived through a devastating earthquake and they were still trying to cope with the aftermath. And most people were sleeping in the streets, for example, when I was there — this was almost three or four weeks after the earthquake — and people were still traumatized. And I had to be very careful about how I would approach that.

The thing that I’m most proud of is that at some point I was contacted by a local health clinic in Haiti. It was from a Canadian organization. They contacted me because they wanted more information about what could happen. And so what I did, I recycled something — kind of a series of questions and answers I designed after the 1988 Saguenay earthquake — and I sent that to them, and they were quite happy and they distributed it at large. But what I didn’t know is that they added my email address at the bottom. So at some point I was receiving emails almost on a daily basis. And at some point I said, Hey, how do you know that I even exist? I was getting all these emails from Haiti. And that’s why they pointed me to that website that had all my questions and answers that people found useful, I guess, plus my email address.

I was quite happy to send back some information and also explain some of the theory behind earthquakes. Because people had access to information, but sometimes it was misinterpreted by people — it wasn’t misinformation but missed information. Sometimes it didn’t exactly understand the terms and so on. So I was doing my best to explain what it meant and actually what it could mean for the future in terms of aftershocks.

Barb Ustina

What an incredible story, challenging as well. I would imagine coming from a scientific background, you’re not always exposed to that side of things.

Maurice Lamontagne

Yes, but to me, the real intro was in 1988 when they had an earthquake near Chicoutimi, Quebec. And then I was on site when the earthquake occurred because there was a foreshock two days prior. A foreshock — we don’t know it’s a foreshock, but it was a magnitude 4.7 in a zone where there was very little activity.

So we said, okay, let’s go and let’s install our instruments. We travelled by truck. We were only the two of us, and we installed our instruments, and bang — two days later we had a magnitude 5.9! I was on site when it occurred, and there was a power blackout for many people. People had felt the foreshock, and then they had this bigger one, and there was a lot of anxiety in the population. So after speaking with people in the local health clinic, they told me that the best approach is to give people information, but also something they can do to reduce their vulnerability.

Like it could be as simple as going and buying, for example, a flashlight with fresh batteries so that if there’s another power blackout, they would at least have some light. Could be also like buying a first-aid kit in terms of getting injured. So just to get people active instead of just being passive. Because when you’re passive, then you always think about the worst. Whereas when you’re active, you say, okay, it could happen. But now I know what to do, and I’m better prepared to face it.

So when I went to Haiti, that’s more or less the same approach I was using. But there, the main difficulty is the construction, as you know — they’re not engineered structures. And when an earthquake actually occurs, they don’t resist very well the ground vibrations, unlike what we have in Eastern Canada.

Joel Houle

What you’re saying about preparedness is very important. I was always under the assumption that what you should do in an earthquake is to stand in the doorway. But I recently found out that that’s not the case, right?

Maurice Lamontagne

That’s correct. In the old days, they used to say get in the door frame. Because in the old earthquakes, when they were going in the field, it’s probably the only thing that was still standing, the door frames. But we know that in modern houses, the door frames are not any more solid than the rest of the walls.

So now what they say is that if you’re inside during an earthquake, then get under a table or a sturdy desk. And the idea is to protect you from falling debris, and you hang on to one of the legs. That’s one way of protecting yourself.

The thing to avoid is start running, trying to escape the building, because you can trip and fall, especially if it’s at night and there’s a power blackout. And also when you escape a building, there could be falling debris outside. It could be glass. It could be masonry like bricks and so on. So if you’re inside, stay inside, get under a desk, and wait for the vibrations to stop. And if you’re outside, move away from buildings to protect yourself from the possibility of having this falling debris.

Barb Ustina

I guess we should all be prepared no matter where in Canada we live. Now, before we wrap up, I have one last question I want to ask. You experienced an earthquake around magnitude 6.0. What was that like?

Maurice Lamontagne

When it occurred, believe it or not, I was in a happy hour with geology students. When the vibration started, they started applauding. They were happy to go through a geological event! Personally, I got under the table — so I do what I preach and got under the table. I was the only one doing that. Fortunately, it was not a place where it was very threatening. It was a fairly low building. No glasses fell or anything. But when I looked outside, I could see the parked cars and trucks, they were rocking back and forth. So the vibrations were quite intense.

After that, we went in the field to see if our equipment had survived. But immediately, the phone rang. And back then, we didn’t have cell phones. But I went to the geology professor in Chicoutimi and immediately the phone rang, and I picked up the phone and I answered the questions from Radio Canada in Chicoutimi. In retrospect, I should have stayed there and answered a lot more questions, because right after that, there were many questions — people didn’t know what to do, what it meant. For most journalists, it was something completely unexpected and unheard of. But unfortunately, my colleague wanted to stay in the field to check the equipment. But I think I could have stayed a bit longer just to take the questions from people.

Barb Ustina

Indeed, it’s impressive that your instincts kicked in and you did the right thing by getting underneath the table. Now, after hearing that story from you, I’m sure some of our listeners will want to learn more about seismology, and maybe you’ve even inspired someone to actually become a seismologist. What online resources would you recommend for people who are curious about earthquakes and the kind of research you do?

Maurice Lamontagne

For the research, you can find a lot about Canadian earthquakes if you go to earthquakescanada.ca. There, you’ll see the list of the most recent earthquakes. You can also check our database of earthquakes. You’ll see pictures of damage from Canadian earthquakes. And also it has links to how to prepare.

But for how to prepare, you can also visit what is called the GreatShakeout.org, where you find information about what to do during earthquake but also before and after. And that’s an incredibly important source of information. In Canada, we have a great Shakeout exercise every October, and we’re participating in a global exercise that’s called the Great Shakeout. So, if people are interested in developing a reflex when an earthquake occurs, I think they should do the earthquake drill that occurs every October. And by visiting the great checkout.org, they can register and be ready when the drill occurs next October.

Joel Houle

That’s some very good advice. We’ll make sure to add all those links to our podcast description. Maurice, thank you so much for taking the time to come and chat with us today.

Maurice Lamontagne

It was my pleasure. Have a good day.

Barb Ustina

Thank you for that fascinating conversation.

Barb Ustina

It was so amazing to hear his experiences in the field as a seismologist! Just imagine being on the ground in Haiti after that devastating earthquake in 2010. I can’t even imagine. He’s enjoyed a really incredible career.

Joel Houle

Really! It must have been really surreal in Haiti, that’s for sure. One of the things that he mentioned was the Earthquake Canada website — I can’t recommend that site enough. There’s so many cool things. There are actually reports on every significant earthquakes. There’s maps of seismic events across the country. There’s even a full list of frequently asked questions about every single topic related to earthquakes or seismology. So I really recommend people check it out.

Barb Ustina

That is an amazing site for sure. Now, another thing NRCan seismologists are busy working on is a nationwide earthquake early warning system. So one day, seismic sensors will detect activity and within seconds send out alerts so people can take cover. Kind of like the alert I got in Japan. But next time I’ll know how to take cover, right?

Joel Houle

Yeah. But honestly, that was the earthquake’s fault, right? I mean, the earthquake should be more considerate and do it in normal daytime. But anyways, the great thing about that system, though, is that every second counts, right? So the sooner we know that the earthquake is imminent, the more people can get to safety. And that’s what’s really important. So if anyone is interested in learning more about earthquakes and earthquake science and seismology, check out the links in the episode description, and that includes a link to Earthquakes Canada as well. You can also leave a review and share this episode if you want. And if you share over Twitter, make sure to tag us at NRCan Science or you can even tag us directly. I’m at Joel Science...

Barb Ustina

… and I’m at Simply Science B. That’s the letter B. I might remind everyone that Simply Science also has a website and a YouTube channel, which you should check out. We have in-depth articles of interest and videos that showcase the fascinating scientific work that we do at Natural Resources Canada. And you can find those links in the episode description as well. And also our social media channels.

Joel Houle

Thank you, Barb. And thank you so much, everyone, for listening. We’ll see you in the next episode.

Barb Ustina

Bye.