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EARTHQUAKE! Once again, Toronto hit by a lunchtime summer tremor

EARTHQUAKE! Once again, Toronto hit by a lunchtime summer tremor

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Office workers mill around after evacuating a building in Arlington, Virginia (Image: Mrs. Gemstone)

If the hundreds of reports on Twitter are to be believed (and the reports of about half of the Toronto Life office), Toronto just experienced this summer’s lunchtime earthquake (last June, we had a similar tremor). According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia was at the epicentre of a 5.9 magnitude quake about 10 minutes ago. We wonder how long it’ll be before the inevitable ironic commemorations begin.

UPDATE: MSNBC reports that parts of the Pentagon and the White House were evacuated following the quake.

UPDATE 2: Well, that was fast. The “committed capitalists” over at Spacing have already mocked up some commemorative buttons »

Did you feel the earthquake where you were? Let us know in the comments.

Topics: earthquake 2011 News Random Stuff Toronto Twitter

111 thoughts on “EARTHQUAKE! Once again, Toronto hit by a lunchtime summer tremor”

  4. Just felt the earthquake in our office building in downtown Toronto. My chair was shaking and the office walls were creaking.

  5. yes, i live around pape and danforth area and I was in my apartment when my couch started moving and chandellier was also moving.. ohh it was so bad for a few seconds..

  7. Yes, I was at my desk on the third floor. The whole room shook.Lamps rattled etc. I thought at first I was imagining things, then noticed some framed photos on the wall still swinging. The two animals that were with me, sleeping jumped up and tore down the stairs. Went downstairs but no-one on the ground floor felt a thing! Quite alarming!

  9. Yes, I was at my desk on the third floor. The whole room shook.Lamps rattled etc. I thought at first I was imagining things, then noticed some framed photos on the wall still swinging. The two animals that were with me, sleeping, jumped up and tore down the stairs. I went downstairs but no-one on the ground floor felt a thing! Quite alarming!

  10. I felt the earthquake… I live almost 360 feet off ground and i was just sitting on my bed around 2:03 pm when all of a sudden i felt the bed shake, just after a few second the building i felt the building sway and the it stopped… I went to check with my brother, he told me that he felt it too.

  14. Felt a rumble from my office downtown, thought it was construction till I checked my bbm status’s, scary stuff

  15. Was lying down on the bed and felt it shake, called out to my mom and said I think we just had an earthquake we’re in Oak Ridges

  17. The earthquake certainly happened. I was in my room and felt an felt a small shake. I didn’t think anything of it but saw that that the water in my glass was not level, but the top was swaying back and forth. This is when I knew there was an earthquake.

  18. I felt it!! I am on the 12th floor of an older apartment building in downtown Toronto and I was sitting at my desk when it happened. After living in Tokyo for many years, I am quite familiar with the sensation. The strongest shaking lasted for about 30-45 seconds but, I could still feel constant weaker tremors for another couple of minutes.

  19. Im in Bolton/Caledon area on the second floor of the building of my work. I felt the building start to sway back and fourth slightly with an irratic pattern. Mild but caught me off guard. I guess this an annual thing because I was in the same spot last year when it happened the first time!

  23. In Markham at the 404 & 7 on the 10th floor of my building..felt shaking and there was a noticeable sway of the building including desks/chairs, etc. for about 1 minute or so.

  26. I felt it in Waterloo, just a bit of shaking of a flimsy monitor and my chair. No one else here noticed though.

  28. Yup, felt it here in North York. I thought it was a big truck driving by at first, until my dresser didn’t stop shaking. haha

  29. Felt it here at 427 & Burnamthorpe. Sitting at my desk and my chair and desk started to shake. Lasted a bit longer than the quake last year.

  31. Yes We did feel it and it was more intense than the one in June. Individually we felt like we were being sick! and then realised it wasn’t us it was a tremor. It was scary.

  33. felt it in Markham. made everything shake. people evacuated the building next door…perhaps a bit of overkill?

  35. Strange but real. I was sitting at Starbucks in High Park area and felt it right away. I also experienced the last one in May and knew for sure that was it. This time not hard as in the past but still worrying.
    Really strange experiencing earthquakes so often if Toronto….

  36. 3rd floor at Yonge and St. Clair – a distinct rumble, office doors swaying back and forth. Front desk security on the first floor had no idea why people from the higher floors (who actually received an alarm) were vacating the building! General consensus from people on the first floor – “what earthquake”?

  38. I was sitting on my couch and felt it, I live on the 17th floor so I felt it so bad that it made me throw up. The dried leaves on my plants on the window fell off and my floor lamp swayed.

  39. I was sitting on my bed (37th floor, downtown Toronto) and it was shaking up and down for few seconds..doors made some noises

  40. Yes I felt it here near Yonge-Wellesley. At first I thought the mayor was visiting our apartment building, but the swaying stopped fairly quickly so I presumed it was just another tremor.

  41. Yes,I felt a tremor in my house in Thornhill at around 2pm. Open door in my room was swinging and there were some squeking sounds from the upstairs.

  42. I thought I was just getting dizzy, but then the blinds started swaying back and forth and items on the desk rattled. I am in Markham, near Warden and 14th.

  44. From one king west hotel! I was like why my chair is shaking! Then I realized that was an earthquake

  46. Felt it in our offices at King and Parliament. Thought it was construction until it was all over my facebook.

  47. Sitting in Office building- Financial district. I work reception for a company on Front street up on the 22nd floor. we REALLY felt it up there for a good 3-4 minutes of swaying and vibrating. It was funny watching everyone literally drop to the floor and hide under their desks. One of the more powerful ones I’ve sat through in this office.

  49. We felt it in Woodbridge, the office divider walls swayed and the computers were moving. It felt like when a wind pushes you around in your car on the highway. This was a longer one than last year.
    The ground floor did not feel it but we are on the second floor.

  50. Yup, i felt it too (Grenville street – College Station) for few minutes as the door in my back office started shaking, also feeling my chair swaying…

  52. Felt the tremor in my office on 15th floor downtown Toronto. My window made a noise and then I felt the building sway.

  55. Felt it in scarborough….not as much as I felt last years, but there is seismic activity on the east coast….might be a few more before the days out…..

  56. Near Pape and Riverdale, I was sitting in my backyard and thought someone was behind me slowly moving my garden chair, I turned to check and no one was behind me moving the chair. It continued to move for another few seconds – strange.

  58. Felt the quake quite clearly in a building near Markham Rd. and the the 491. The vibrations lasted at least 20 sec. and a few things swayed back and forth.

  59. Felt the quake quite clearly in a building near Markham Rd. and the the 401. The vibrations lasted at least 20 sec. and a few things swayed back and forth.

  60. Felt the quake quite clearly in a building near Markham Rd. and the 401. The vibrations lasted at least 20 sec. and a few things swayed back and forth.

  61. I felt the quake at my apartment on Finch at Victoria Park. “Interestingly strange” was the feling I had.

  64. I didn’t feel it, but my sister called from work saying that the whole building shook. They had to evacuate.

  65. I thought skipping lunch was the reason I felt slight dizziness lol…then my coworker said if we felt the earthqueake…STC felt it too…so did Mississauga. As all my girls contacted me with a reply.

  66. I felt it at about 2:00 P.M. as I sat in my bed with my laptop. It was moving left to right. During last earthquake (June?), the movement was from front to back. I am downtown Toronto.

  67. I had just had my new bed delivered and got it made and was sitting on it, and it felt like it was on top of a washer on the spin cycle and everything started kinda ” swaying” back and forth ( here on the 11th floor)
    That’s my first one ever!

  68. At warden and egg (Toronto) People in the office asked do you feel the building moving my chair keeps moving, is it me or do you feel it too, and other did…..

  69. I felt it too while I wan on call with a Rogers CSR. My chair was literally shaking. I am in Toronto (Don Mills)

  70. It’s fascinating to see the amount of people that were sleeping or lying on their bed at 2pm in the afternoon!! WOW!! How has our economy not crashed yet?

  72. yes, in Scarborough too. At my desk. I have just taken some medication, and not very happy to feel ‘funny’. Luckily I was listening to Radiofrance.fr, when they mentioned it, about 20 minutes later, What a relief!

  73. I felt my desk shaking, and it was felt throughout the office. We are in the Woodbridge/Vaughan area.

  75. I was sitting on my bed (which is a heavy hospital/Craftmatic Adjustable bed style) reading my emails when the bed started shaking and actually moved side to side. I called out to my son and his friend who were sitting on the bed in the next room and they also said the bed was shaking and the pictures on the wall moved.

  76. Radio station CANOEFM 100.9 in Haliburton,Ontario announced that a listener on Pine Lake which is in Haliburton County felt a slight tremour around 2:00 p.m. Tues. Aug. 23/11

  77. Our radio station CANOEFM 100.9 in Haliburton had a listener phone in saying he had felt a slight tremour at his home on Pine Lake in Haliburton County around 2:04 p.m.

  78. Felt it in Richmond Hill. At home in Condo. Notice my bean bag chair was moving. It weighs 40-50lbs. lol. I was like no way.

  79. Definitely felt the tremor and watched the plants swaying while siting at my desk in our Aurora office.

  80. I felt it too. I was hearing tinkle sound from spoons on the stand but I thought my daughter making lemonade. I went to bed and I felt like someone rocking me,I could see my whole body is shaking on the bed. I got up and felt my floor is swaying. It lasted longer than any other earthquake I had experienced.

  81. I felt the tremor in Chatham, ON. I was working on a clients nails and we both felt the table shake.

  82. My coworkers and I were at our desks here in central Etobicoke ON around 2 pm or so and the building had a tremor that lasted about 20-30 seconds. Enough to make the monitor of the computer move and chairs move from their spot. A smaller tremor about 2 minutes later occurred.

  83. We felt it for about 20 seconds in our office at Bloor/Sherbourne. My computer screen was shaking.

  85. I thought i was feeling dizzy until i noticed the chandeliers dancing, and mirror on the wall oscillating. I was about to run outside into the street.

  87. Sitting in the lunch room having my lunch and doing the crossword all the sudden everything was shaking. got so tense was going to run

  89. I live in Baltimore,MD and was in WalMart when everything started shaking. It was very scary. I was hoping the lights wouldn’t fall on me or the shelves fall over. My husband was home and said the whole house shook. I lost one figurine and all my pictures were askew. My poor cat was freaked! It went on for about a minute. We are only about 190 miles from the epicenter in Virginia. There is some slight damage in Baltmore to church steeples and some buildings.

  90. Me and my wife were on Toronto Centre Island sitting on a bench at the south dock. The quake shaked the hole stage. She got a little excited about this one as she missed on the first one few months back.

  91. I felt it about 1:55 pm today. I thought it was an earthquake right away. I was a little scared. I live in Leslieville

  93. It was really hard to recognize that there was an earthquake in Brampton. I noticed my desktop monitor shaking a little and than my computer desk.

  94. queensway and winderemere area i felt it it shook me on the chair to the point i had to get my daughter to touch my chair to make sure i wasn’t feeling something that no one else was the birds and dogs went nuts and weren’t acting like their happy selfs

  98. I was sitting at my desk in my office building in Oshawa. Out of nowhere things started to move, I thought I was really dizzy or something, things were swaying. After about 10 seconds I realized it was an earthquake. I walked out of my office and everyone was asking what that was.

  100. I was at Don Mills/Lawrence in the lunch room all the sudden everything in the kitchen were shaking look outside thought might be the train Told my friend it’s an earthquake she said no they’re working down stair. I was so tense and was about to leave the office

  101. I felt that it was going to be an earth quake 2 days ago!!! I don’t know how but I felt I was uncomfortable and thinking about earth quake I was like ahh I just made my mind up. But no! Also in toronto there was a tornado-like huge big storm and before half day I started to “save’ my plants in one place from my balcony but I just didn’t know why. Now I know why.

  102. i felt it as well.. for a longer time than normal..and i was thinkin to myself that i was swaying my chair!

  103. I am living in Toronto on Queen and JAmeson,and I was sittin on my sofa and I felt it was shakeing and I got scared so much I run down on the 3 floor to my dad with my daughter..it was scary:(i never felt something like this this was the first time that i felt an earthquek!!!!:(

  105. yes i felt that in hamilton, on
    i slept and the earthquake woke me up
    my monitor shaked on my table strongly

  110. Kids start to wonder what was that shake… I took them quickly in to the washroom of the apartment on the 20th floor, assuming that was the safest place. That was really scary.

  111. Felt it while I was still in bed.. Even considered the GO train might’ve been making the ground shake. Never felt an earthquake in Toronto until today.

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