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It was a minor quake but it gave the West Shore enough of a rumble that many residents report feeling the earth shake.
The earthquake happened at 3:20 p.m., Wednesday.
“It’s a moderate event,” said earthquake seismologist Alison Bird, minutes after the quake struck northwest of Langford.
Bird and other scientists with Natural Resource Canada spent a few minutes analyzing their data before confirming the quake measured a magnitude 3 and struck just northwest of Langford at 48.5 North and 123.6 West.
The centre was near remote Goldstream Lake and at a depth of 26 kilometres.
Reports came in from a fairly concentrated area, Bird said, adding that the information suggests the quake was caused by movement of the North American Plate.
Earthquakes are a daily event in this part of the world, though Wednesday’s rumble was a little larger than most.
The earthquake was felt by the Goldstream News Gazette staff as well as employees at Goldstream provincial park close to the epicentre.
"It gave our nature house a good little rumble," said Bre Robinson, park naturalist.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com