Earthquake in Quebec felt in GR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Many people in West Michigan reported a tremor that shook the building they were in shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday. But it seems as if it was just a tremor from a 5.0 magnitude quake in Quebec.

The quake hit about 1:40 p.m. ET. The CBC quotes Réal Rochon, mayor of Gracefield, Que., close to the epicenter, as calling for emergency help from nearby towns after the quake caused significant damage to a community centre, church and hotel in his community as well as the town hall. The walls of the church collapsed and officials are concerned that the bell tower could fall.

Buildings in Toronto and Ottawa were evacuated in the minutes following the tremors according to the CBC.

West Michigan residents felt it. The WOOD TV 8 Facebook page filled up with viewers like Shari Duhman, who works in an office building on Kraft near 28th Street.

"My chair actually moved," she told 24 Hour News 8. "And it did it twice. And then, I looked at my candle, and the candle was, like, moving."

She thought maybe it was the wind. "So I got up and I went out and I looked at in the hallway, and everybody was,like, little ants coming out of their office because they all felt it."

Dunham said it wasn't scary. "It was just, made you go, 'hmmm.'"

According to the CBC , Ontario Provincial Police reported no injuries. The Ottawa fire department said it was overwhelmed with false alarms.

"Earthquakes across [this part of] Canada are definitely rare, but we do have them," said Johanna Wagstaffe, a CBC seismologist and meteorologist. "There are small fault lines along Lake Erie and Lake Ontario," and a "relatively active fault line that runs parallel to the St. Lawrence Valley," she said just minutes after the quake.

The last major earthquake on that fault line measured 5.4 magnitude in 1998, she said.

The United States Geological Survey keeps track of earthquakes around the world, and reported 230 quakes in the past week.

US residents from New England to the Midwest felt the tremor. And many people shared their earthquake stories on the WOOD TV8 Facebook page and on Bill's Blog

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The United States Geological Survey