Small quake strikes in Whatcom a couple hundred yards from U.S.-Canada border
A small earthquake stuck Wednesday afternoon near the U.S.-Canada border directly north of Whatcom County’s Silver Lake.
The 2.1-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:33 p.m. March 9, approximately 52. miles north of Maple Falls and , according to a U.S. Geological Survey report on Thursday afternoon, March 10, 9.2 miles east southeast of Abbotsford, B.C.
The quake would have been approximately 25 miles from downtown Bellingham, according to Googlemaps, placing it a approximately a mile north of Silver Lake and just a couple football fields south of the Canadian border near South Pass Road.
Nobody had reported feeling the shaking yet on the USGS’ “Did you Feel It” page, and the quake was measured at a depth of less than a kilometer, according to the USGS.
A second, even smaller quake struck underneath Mount Baker approximately 40 hours earlier, the USGS reported. That 1.4-magnitude quake was centered approximately a mile north of the stratovolcano’s summit, according to Googlemaps. Nobody had reported feeling that quake either, according to the USGS.
Quakes of less than magnitude 3.0 are common, and tens of thousands are reported worldwide every year, according to the USGS. A quake of magnitude 1.0 to 3.0 is not felt except by a very few under especially favorable conditions, according to the USGS.
Last month, the Washington State Emergency Management Division announced that the new MyShake Earthquake Early Warning app was available for Washington state residents, giving them time to drop, cover and hold on to protect themselves in the event of a major earthquake.
The MyShake App already was available in California and Oregon and is available for free download through the Apple App Store and Google Play.
