5.0 quake in Canada felt in Northeast Ohio, aftershocks possible

CLEVELAND - A 5.0 magnitude earthquake out of Ontario, Canada was apparently felt in Northeast Ohio and at least as far south as Cincinnati.

The U.S. Geological Survey posted the quake was centered at Ontario-Quebec border region in Canada at 1:41 p.m. The depth of the quake was reported out of 11.9 miles. It was initially reported as a 5.5 magnitude, but was reduced to a 5.0 about an hour after it happened. Click here to check out seismic data from Wednesday.

The Cleveland Natural History Museum reports there were three pulses from the earthquake and all were felt in Cleveland. There said there is a possibility for aftershocks for the quake.

Dozens of people have contacted NewsChannel5 and are posting online about the earthquake. There have been no immediate reports of damage.

"We work at Akron Children’s Hospital and probably before 2 o'clock we all were dizzy, desks and cubicle walls were swaying. We are on the 6th floor and we could feel the building swaying," wrote Heather Dicintio in an e-mail to NewsChannel5.

"My office is on the fourth floor of a building in Wickliffe and I felt the entire building shimmy and shake and even a small compression. It was the first time I have consciously experienced the tremor from an earthquake. I thought the epicenter would have been much closer. Canada! Wow," said Mike Roecker, another viewer.

There are some unconfirmed reports of buildings being evacuated, including the 55 Public Square building in downtown Cleveland, as seen in the photo sent in by a NewsChannel5 viewer.

The Ohio Department of Transportation told NewsChannel5 that inspectors are on their way to the Innerbelt and Main Avenue bridges as a precaution. ODOT said it does not expect to have any issues, but want to make sure no damage was done. Iron workers were working 150 feet in the air on the Innerbelt Bridge at the time of the quake and said they did not feel anything.

Reports of the earthquake are coming in everywhere from Cincinnati to Cleveland and up into New England.

Here is a map showing the epicenter of the quake:

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http://bit.ly/dAxdox

Tell us what you felt by filling out the comment form below. If you have video or pictures from when the quake happened or any damage as a result of it, e-mail it to: 5pix@newsnet5.com

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Here is some additional information about the quake posted on USGS.gov:

The June 23, 2010 Ontario-Quebec border region earthquake occurred at 1:42 pm local (eastern) time about 60 km (38 miles) north of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital city. The preliminary estimate of magnitude (M) is 5.0, at a depth of roughly 19 km (12 miles). These estimates may change as more data becomes available.

This earthquake occurred near the southern edge of the Western Quebec Seismic Zone. Earthquakes within this zone are mostly small. They tend to cluster in a wide area that is slightly elongated northwest-southeast. Historically, earthquakes in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone have caused damage roughly once a decade. Three or four smaller events each year are felt in the region but are generally too small to cause damage. The largest earthquakes known in this part of Canada occurred in 1935 (M6.1), about 250 km (150 miles) to the northwest of todays event, and in 1732 (M6.2), about 150 km (100 miles) to the east. The 1732 earthquake caused significant damage in Montreal.

Earthquakes of the size of todays event are uncommon east of the Rockies, but many have occurred since the arrival of European settlers three centuries ago. In eastern North America and geologically similar regions worldwide, M5.0 to M5.5 earthquakes typically cause light to moderate damage out to a few tens of kilometers (miles) from the epicenter, depending on the number of people and type of buildings near the epicenter. Typically these earthquakes are felt hundreds of kilometers (miles) away. Earthquakes of this size and depth are unlikely to rupture the Earth's surface, although exceptions are known.

The main faults near this earthquake zone trend northwest. These faults form the Ottawa graben and were most active several hundred million years ago. Some of the faults of the graben have been reactivated one or more times since then. The initial focal mechanism of todays earthquake suggests reverse faulting on a fault trending southeast-northwest. However, the size and depth of this earthquake make it uncertain whether the causative fault can be identified.