AN EARTHQUAKE shook Ottawa and Montreal on Wednesday, sending office workers scrambling onto downtown streets in Canada’s capital, and damaging buildings and roadways in Quebec province.
The US Geological Survey reported the temblor of magnitude 5.0 hit the Ontario-Quebec border area at 1741 GMT (3.41am Singapore time), rattling downtown Ottawa shortly after midday.
The USGS, which originally reported the quake at magnitude 5.5 before downgrading it, said the epicenter was 53 km north of Ottawa.
It also shook Canada’s most populous city Toronto, where global leaders are to gather this weekend for a G-20 summit of the world’s top developed and developing economies. The earthquake was also felt as far away as the US states of New York – in the city of Buffalo – and Ohio.
AFP journalists in Canada witnessed walls in downtown office buildings shaking for several seconds. Cracks appeared in the Parliamentary Press Gallery building in Ottawa, and outside some people appeared shaken up, but unhurt.