Late night 3.7 magnitude earthquake felt in Fort Erie

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake struck southern Ontario late Tuesday night and some Fort Erie residents reported a brief shake or loud noise just before 11 p.m. The quake occurred at 10:58 p.m. and was felt across parts of Niagara, according to Natural Resources Canada and public reports.

Natural Resources Canada said the epicentre was 23 kilometres southeast of Orillia–about 400 kilometres north of Fort Erie–and at a depth of five kilometres. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The tremor was lightly felt across southern Ontario including Fort Erie, based on public reports filed with Earthquakes Canada.

Public reaction in Fort Erie varied by neighbourhood. Some residents reported a short rumble or rattling inside homes, while many others said they felt nothing at all.

“I live in an old house, so my windows were rattling, and because of the weather I thought it was just the snow plow going by, but I checked online and saw the Ontario storm updates post almost right away,” Sarah Grugios, owner of Superior Apparel and Swag Shop, told Fort Erie Radio.

Earthquakes Canada said more than 2,600 people across southern and central Ontario submitted reports through its online “Did you feel it?” system by early Wednesday. Reports came from as far north as North Bay and as far south as Fort Erie.

Grugios said she has family members living closer to the epicentre near Lindsay who reported much stronger shaking inside their homes.

“They said it was rattling so bad that their dishes were falling off their counters,” she said.

The agency classified the event as minor. Such earthquakes can be felt but rarely cause damage.

Seismic waves can travel long distances through hard bedrock in eastern Canada, which allows relatively small quakes to be felt far from their source, according to Natural Resources Canada.

This region sits within the interior of the North American tectonic plate rather than along a plate boundary. Small earthquakes can still occur due to stress along ancient faults deep underground.

It is unlikely the quake will lead to aftershocks, according to Natural Resources Canada.

The last earthquake of similar size in Ontario occurred on February 6, 2023, when a magnitude 4.2 quake struck the same general region. The largest recorded quake in Ontario history was a magnitude 5.5 event in 1929.

Residents who felt shaking can submit reports through Earthquakes Canada’s website to support ongoing seismic research.

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