BN17-15: SEISMOLIGISTS IN PEACE SETTING UP TEMPORARY MONITOR

April 20, 2001

DAWSON CREEK -- Two seismologists are in the Peace setting up temporary monitors that will help them determine the cause of Friday evening’s earthquake.

Paul Street and Fiona Darbyshire, who work for the Geological Survey of Canada, figure that the epicentre is about 40 km. northeast of Dawson Creek, or about 10 km. north of Bonanza.

"We’ve set up one near where our best estimate is of the epicentre and we want to set up a couple of others within 20-25 kilometres of that as well," Street said Thursday.

The earthquake measured 5.4 magnitude with accompanying aftershocks of 3.2 and 2.5 on the Richter scale over the long weekend.

Street said the monitors should remain in place for about a month. "And then we’ll come back and collect the data, and the processing after that should be within several weeks back at the office," he said.

The Peace is not on the nation’s system of permanent stations. Street said they’re sent out about five times a year on average to investigate earthquakes that occur off the main grid.

The peace region lies on the Cordillera region about central to the northern and south areas.

The largest earthquake ever recorded was a magnitude 6.9 in the Mackenzie Mountains of the Northwest Territories in 1985. The Valemont area of the Southern Corderilla was host to a 6.0 earthquake in 1918.