A new mystery after the Haida Gwaii quakes

Add Bats to the list of things to research in the aftermath of last weeks 7.7 earthquake and the  many aftershocks on Haida Gwaii that followed.

Last week it was learned that the popular hot springs on the Islands had run dry, apparently it seems  shut down from the shifting of the plates underneath Haida Gwaii.

Now scientists are trying to figure out what may happen next summer when  a nearly extinct species of bats common to the region return to their birthing grounds, which happen to be at Hot Spring Island.

The CBC has details of the potential species changing situation, which sees some 40 Keen's myotis bats arrive every summer to have their offspring at the springs, one of only two maternal colonies that are known to the species.

The bats are attracted to the roosting area of the Hot Springs owing to the above average ambient temperature of the water that now used to flow under the Islands.

The Hot Springs drying up and now a potential disaster for a species is making last weeks earthquake one that is going to provide for much in the way of work and research for National and Canadian Geographic, not to mention the Discovery Channel.

Mother Nature turns off the hot water tank!

We will most likely have to wait for the eventual documentaries on Discovery Channel or the National Geographic Channel for the full explanation as to how and why of it all, but for now a mystery is unfolding in the aftermath of the 7.7 earthquake of last Saturday on Haida Gwaii.

As Islanders continue to suffer the occasional jolt of an aftershock, they now are trying to figure out why a popular spot on the Islands has gone cold and dry.

Hot Spring Island, a popular destination for locals and visitors alike isn't featuring a very hot spring these days, with water no longer flowing into the springs and the rocks around the pools cool to the touch.

Some of the reviews of the unexpected after affect of the week of temblors can be found below.


QCI Observer-- Bigger quake did not dry hot springs
CBC Daybreak North-- Can Haida Gwaii's hot spring return? (audio)
CBC Daybreak North-- Earthquake dries up Haida Gwaii's Hot Spring Island (audio)
CBC Daybreak North-- Seismologist answers questions about Haida Gwaii aftershocks (audio)
The Northern View-- Pools at Gwaii Haanas' Hot Spring Island dry up following earthquake
National Post-- "It's just dried up": B. C. earthquake pulls plug on centuries old Haida Gwaii hot springs
Vancouver Sun-- Earthquake empties famed Haida Gwaii hot springs

Aftershocks from Saturday night's 7.7 earthquake continue along Haida Gwaii

24 Hours after Saturday night's 7.7 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Haida Gwaii, the Islands continue to feel the after affects, with more than 50 after shocks rumbling across the islands since the large temblor hit.

The range of the major after shocks went from 4.0 to a high of 6.3 the latter rattling nerves shortly before the noon hour on Sunday.

In addition to those after shocks, two earth quakes were felt further to the east of the initial cluster, moving into the Hecate Strait side of the Islands, where  two shocks registering 4.1 were recorded in mid Sunday afternoon (see here and here).

There were numerous other after shocks of less intensity, which perhaps takes the amount of seismic activity in the region beyond the 100 incident mark in just the last 24 hours.

Needless to say, the events of Saturday night pretty well dominated conversation across the region, with no shortage of Ruperties finding their words dispatched to media outlets across British Columbia and further afield in North America.

Councillor Kinney's commentary of Saturday night for the Vancouver Province on the nature of the earthquake received a reprise on the Global BC News website (view here), while  some video of local residents commenting on the events of the night were also posted to the Global site (view here)

Newspapers across North America picked up a variety of stories from the North coast, a television station in Minnesota providing some quotes from a variety of local residents, including the City of Prince Rupert's Rudy Kelly.

The Prince Rupert based Northern View also had some background on Saturday's quake and the aftershocks that have followed.

The Vancouver Sun featured comments from a wider range of British Columbians stretching from Haida Gwaii through to the BC Interior.

Sunday night the CBC National News turned its attention to the day after the large seismic event on Haida Gwaii, sending Alan Waterman to Prince Rupert to gauge the level of concern from Saturday's quake.

Waterman talked with Prince Rupert Fire Chief Dave McKenzie, who outlined how communications lines at times became congested as people took to their cel phones and devices to seek out further information.

The Port's Michael Gurney was featured on the topic of the closure of operations at the Port's facilities both on the waterfront and at Ridley Island, while other citizens offered up some of their thoughts in the usual person in the street interviews that take place at these times.

Some of whom expressed concern over the lack of information in the city regarding the emergency and how they scrambled to try and find out anything about the earthquake and the potential for a tsunami.

CBC Anchor Wendy Mesley picked up on that theme with some tough questioning of the Emergency  Management spokesperson, wondering why American residents had been warned of the potential of a tsunami a full hour before Canadian officials outlined the risk.

The Emergency Management spokesperson offered up the thought that the provincial agency was pleased overall with the response to the incident, suggesting that the actual event of the earthquake was in effect the warning, with residents expected to "drop, cover, Hold on and then move to higher ground when safe".

That talking point didn't seem to reassure Ms. Wesley who again sought further information on the procedure in place for notification, wrapping up what appeared to be a rather uncomfortable interview with the question if anything was learned from Saturday night's event.

Judging by her reaction to the answer, Ms. Wesley once again she didn't seem particularly reassured that the Emergency Measures Organization understood her concern on the issue and timeline of the notification.

You can view the entire Newscast from this link to the CBC website, the earthquake review starts at the eight minute, forty second mark

That theme of notification and response to the incident would again come up on the CTV Late Night News out of Vancouver, where a string of reports from Masset, Tofino and Port Alberni outlined the activities in those communities during the situation.

Tofino seemingly is the only community that utilizes an emergency siren system, with the sirens alerting their residents to seek out higher ground as the warning of a potential tsunami was received.

Port Alberni which apparently has the sirens, did not however activate their sirens on Saturday, despite the history that community has had with tsunami's, in particular the large Alaskan quake of 1964 which sent water rushing up the inlet into their community causing widespread damage.

The CTV BC coverage can be found here, here, here and here.

The topic of alerts and emergency information delivery may make for an interesting discussion in Prince Rupert in the days following Saturday's event, Prince Rupert once had sirens in place for such things, rarely used as they were, they were disconnected and taken down a number of years ago.

Considering the concern over the events of the weekend, sirens and other forms of communicating important notices may become a popular talking point again in the city.

Especially if the after shocks, which are expected to continue through the week, continue to provide for the occasional jolt or bump in the night.

Other items from our coverage of the 7.7 earthquake on Haida Gwaii can be found here.

Update: Local media outlets had some further information about Saturday night's Haida Gwaii quake.

The Northern View-- Lack of warning worries Prince Rupert
CBC Daybreak North-- After the Earthquake: questions and surprise (audio) (video)
CFTK-- Rupert Earthquake Damage (video)
CFTK-- Haida Gwaii Earthquake Reax (video)
CFTK-- CMSD Quake Checks (video)
KRBD Ketchikan-- Southeast responds to Tsunami warning
KRBD Ketchikan-- Large Quake hits B. C., POW outer coast warned

Haida Gwaii rocked by 7.7 earthquake

The strongest earthquake to strike Canada in 60 years rumbled across Haida Gwaii, the North Coast and into the Northern Interior on Saturday night, as a 7.7 magnitude quake struck at four minutes after 8  PM.

The large scale quake rattle a few dishes, as well as a few nerves in Prince Rupert and around the region, but remarkably in the case of Haida Gwaii which was the centre of the seismic event Saturday, little in the way of any serious damage had been reported in the hours that followed the temblor.

Power went out temporarily in some regions of Haida Gwaii, but no power outages or other concerns were reported from other communities across Northwestern British Columbia or Alaska.

The epicentre of the quake struck 139 kilometres south of Masset on Haida Gwaii, with seismic waves rumbling across the northern parts of the province and into Alaska, the magnitude of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami warnings that were put in place led officials across the region to activated their Emergency Operations centres.

With fears of a potential tsunami wave arriving on the shores of Prince Rupert, local officials had advised residents of areas close to the waterfront to  head towards higher ground, basically at five corners (Park Avenue/2nd Avenue West) in the west and 6th Avenue East and Drydock road to the East.

Likewise, people in the at risk areas such as the waterfront, marinas and floats of the region were advised to move to the higher elevations. At times, those instructions resulted in heavy traffic in areas at those higher elevations as people made their way up towards the Roosevelt Park/Hospital area.

As a precaution the Port of Prince Rupert suspended operations at all of its industrial terminals both at Fairview and at Ridley Island.

As the evening progressed the threat of a tsunami causing concern in Prince Rupert eased and by 11 PM, the City had closed it's Command Centre at City Hall advising that any significant arrival of waves was not expected.

The tsunami warning was downgraded to an advisory shortly before the midnight hour. Some of the reported wave measurements were 28 to 44 centimetres along the coast, as the warnings were downgraded along coastal British Columbia, officials in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for the Islands.

With the official work out of the way on the night, Prince Rupert Mayor Jack Mussallem became a popular media subject on Saturday night, making appearances on the major British Columbia networks such as CBC and Global, as well as with local media sources.

Attorney General and Justice Minister Shirley Bond held a conference call late Saturday evening,  providing an update on the latest information regarding the earthquake and events that followed it, a recording of it is available here.

For the most part, the main conduit of information seemed to be through a variety of social media outlets, with twitter feeds and facebook pages jumping to life shortly after the quake struck.


Since the 7.7 event on Haida Gwaii there were close to fourteen after shocks recorded up to the midnight hour, ranging anywhere from 4.0 to 5.8 in magnitude.   More aftershocks were anticipated over the  course of the next few days as the earth settles from Saturday's excitement.

The USGS offers a useful website detailing all of the seismic activity around the world, which on Saturday and into Sunday morning featured quite a few reports from Haida Gwaii.

Saturday's earthquake struck in much the same area as the 8.1 temblor of 1949, joined now by Saturday nights quake as a reminder of the always active fault lines of the North Pacific region.

Environment Canada Tsunami Advisory

Items of note from a variety of media sources can be found below.

QCI Observer-- Big earthquake south of Sandspit shakes Haida Gwaii
The Northern View-- 7.7 magnitude earthquake hits 139 km south of Masset, Prince Rupert deemed safe
CFTK-- No serious Damage Report from Strong Earthquake
CFTK-- Tsunami warning Downgraded to Advisory
CFTK-- Precautionary Evacuations at Prince Rupert Port
CFTK-- Earthquake Strikes Haida Gwaii
Terrace Standard-- Earthquake off Haida Gwaii
Terrace Standard-- Tsunami warning issued
Opinion 250-- Earthquake Shakes Northern B. C.
Opinion 250-- Residents Moved to 5 Corners in Prince Rupert After 7.7 Earthquake Hits
Opinion 250-- Parts of Tofino Evacuated as Precaution After Earthquake
Opinion 250-- No Major Damage Reported From Massive Quake
Opinion 250-- 1800 People Evacuated At Masset
Vancouver Sun-- 7.7 earthquake hits Haida Gwaii Region, Tsunami warning downgraded to advisory
Vancouver Province-- 'Our hearts are still beating fast 'Magnitude 7.7 quake recorded off Haida Gwaii
CBC.ca-- Small tsunami waves hit B. C. after 7.7 quake
CBC.ca-- Live Blog of post earthquake period
CTVBC-- Tsunami warnings downgraded after B. C. coastal quake
Global BC-- 7.7 earthquake strikes off coast of Prince Rupert (video)
Global BC-- 7.7 quake shakes B. C. coast sets off Tsunami advisories from Alaska to Victoria
Globe and Mail-- Evacuations in B. C. after quake sparks tsunami warning
National Post-- Tsunami warning issued after 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes off B. C. coast