People in Banff got a jolt when an earthquake shook the town on Thursday evening, but no damage or injuries were reported.

The quake, which measured 2.7 on the Richter scale, hit at 5:42 p.m., with the epicenter just four kilometres west of the community, and 20 km west of Canmore.

The shaking lasted only a few seconds, but that was enough to startle both residents and tourists alike.

People there said they could feel the ground moving beneath them and the shaking seemed to get stronger the higher up you were.

David and Kathy Avery, visiting Banff from Kansas, said they had never felt an earthquake before and never expected one in Banff.

“I was on the deck in the hotel room and I felt three or four big shakes,” David said.

“We both felt and looked at each other and, oh my gosh, the room went from one side and back to the other. It was weird, I never felt that before,” Kathy added.

Town officials say that earthquakes in Banff are a lot more common than one might think.

"There have been earthquakes in this area in the past," says Banff mayor Karen Sorensen. "They've all registered under 2.0 and never been felt. This one was a bit bigger so we did, in fact, feel it. I wouldn't say it's common in the Bow Valley but it's certainly been experienced before."

In the event of a stronger quake, Sorensen says the town has an extensive emergency plan in place.

No aftershocks have been reported so far.

Each year, there are about a million earthquakes around the world. But only about 100 of these cause serious damage.

An earthquake happens somewhere in the world once every thirty seconds.

Most Earthquakes last a minute or less.

10 Fun Earthquake Facts
 

  1. Each year, there are about a million earthquakes around the world. But only about 100 of these cause serious damage.
  2. An earthquake happens somewhere in the world once every thirty seconds.
  3. Most Earthquakes last a minute or less.
  4. Every year there are approximately 30 earthquakes recorded  in Alberta
  5. Earthquakes are measured using The Moment Magnitude Scale.   The Richter scale, does not provide accurate estimates for large magnitude earthquakes. The moment magnitude scale, abbreviated MW, is now preferred because it remains accurate over a wider range of earthquakes 
  6. Like the Richter scale  MW  is logarithmic, meaning  that for each whole number you go up the scale, the amplitude of the motion recorded by a seismograph goes up ten times.
  7. The largest recorded earthquake is a 9.5 quake in Chile in 1960.
  8. That’s about 6,309,600 times stronger than the one in Banff last night
  9. The 1960 earthquake released about the same energy as 15 Trillion kilograms of TNT exploding) – about a million times more than the atomic bomb in Hiroshima  
  10. The Banff earthquake released the equivalent about 11,220 Kilowatt hours of energy -  the same as a large bolt of lightning hitting the ground. Using the Kilos of TNT reference it would be only around 15 Kg of TNT