Poduris S. Rao, a professor of statistics, takes a photograph of a trace of an earthquake from the seismograph at the University of Rochester, on Wednesday. An earthquake" />
Ottawa Airport shook harder than his house did when hurricane Juan passed over Prince Edward Island in 2003, says Robert Harding.
Harding, who lives in Summerville, P.E.I., was waiting for his flight at the airport in the nation's capital when a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit much of central Canada.
"All of a sudden everything started to shake and rattle," Harding told The Guardian.
"The first thing that came to my mind was that something serious had happened, maybe a plane or something hit the far side of the building.
"The longer it went, the more intense it got."
The damage appeared to be concentrated in a tiny town in Quebec about 60 kilometres north of Ottawa. Three buildings, including the town church, community centre and grocery store, sustained damage.
Damage in larger centres including Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal appeared to be minimal.
Offices on Parliament Hill in Ottawa were evacuated.
Melanie Nicholson of Montague was sitting at her desk in the East Block of the Parliament buildings when she started to hear a strange rumbling noise.
"It started to get louder and then everything started to shake," said Nicholson, who works for P.E.I. Liberal Senator Catherine Callbeck.
"It didn't knock anything off my shelves but it was certainly enough to scare me. I've never been in an earthquake before."
Fearing an explosion on the Hill, Nicholson wasn't sure if she should evacuate.
Security initially told her they were assessing the situation but then the call came down to evacuate.
Nobody was allowed back into the Parliament buildings until the historic structures were examined to ensure it was safe.
"It's simply disbelief."
While the House of Commons is closed for the summer, the Senate is still sitting.
Callbeck had just stepped out of the red Chamber to make a phone call when the building started to shake.
"All of a sudden there was a rumble and the building shook," said Callbeck.
P.E.I. Conservative Senator Mike Duffy said the massive chandeliers in the Senate began swaying and some senators hid under their desks. He said senators didn't realize what was going on and thoughts of a terrorist attack or a bomb crossed his mind.
"I grabbed my laptop and my USB that had my speech on it, I grabbed that and put it into my pocket and I said I'm getting the hell out of here," Duffy told The Guardian.
The Senate continued its session on the front lawn of Parliament Hill - at least for a couple of minutes - where the debate was adjourned until next week.
Across town, Monica Gill of Charlottetown was in the chemistry building at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Gill is a PhD candidate at the university and was left shaken by the quake.
Gill said they initially blamed the shaking and loud noise on nearby construction.
"Then, the building started to shake and the noise became much louder," she said.
"We evacuated the building as we were unsure as to what was causing the shaking. Many of us thought that perhaps there had been an accident in one of the labs in the building, or that the crane next to the construction site had dropped something on top of the building."
The earthquake caused the ground to rumble as far north as Val d'Or, Quebec, says Michael Birch, an Islander living in the
community about 300 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
"I was working at my school when I felt the floor shake a bit," said Birch, who is a teacher and is originally from Charlottetown.
The Geological Survey of Canada described the event - a rare phenomenon so far east of the Rocky Mountains - as a "moderate" 5.0 quake.
Harding, who works in Ottawa as executive director of the Canadian Swine Health Board, said he's never experienced an earthquake before.
With no mobile phone services after the earthquake, Harding said he wasn't able to contact home or his office in Ottawa.
"All I know is the doggone thing shook worst than our house did in hurricane Juan."
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- Hydro Quebec workers survey the scene where a section of road on a causeway collapsed following an earthquake in Bowman, Quebec Wednesday, June 23. Canadian Press">
Hydro Quebec workers survey the scene where a section of road on a causeway collapsed following an earthquake in Bowman, Quebec Wednesday, June 23. Canadian Press" />
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Hydro Quebec workers survey the scene where a section of road on a causeway collapsed following an earthquake in Bowman, Quebec Wednesday, June 23. Canadian Press" />
