Minor Damage Found in Canadian Quake

Crews inspected power lines by helicopter Saturday in eastern Canada, checking for problems caused by the largest earthquake to hit the region in more than 50 years, as New York’s Building Department reported that the city’s skyscrapers weathered the temblor without structural damage.

Overall, earthquake damage was minor and the few injuries were not serious, but the Friday quake buckled railroad tracks, triggered burglar alarms and swept objects from tables and shelves throughout the affected area in Canada.

The Canadian Press news agency reported that about 50 people were treated for cuts and bruises or shock in Chicoutimi, about 90 miles northwest of Quebec City.

The quake measured 6.0 on the Richter scale and was centered near Chicoutimi. Seismologists calculated that it originated 11.7 miles beneath the earth’s surface.

Disrupts Power, Phones

It knocked out power and phones over much of Quebec and was felt in Ontario and Nova Scotia. In the United States, the temblor was felt from Michigan to Maine and as far south as Washington.

Jacques Couture, a spokesman for Quebec Hydro in Montreal, said by telephone that power failures affecting hundreds of thousands of customers on the north and south shores of the St. Lawrence River were repaired within two hours of the earthquake.

“There are lots of crews working today, but they are making an inspection to check for damage,” Couture said. He said crews in helicopters were checking the huge network of transmission lines while others would check inside the system’s dams for damage to electronic equipment.

Canadian Press said the most severe power outages affected 250,000 people in the city of Quebec and 50,000 in Montreal. Quebec City police said a pedestrian was hit and killed by a car in an intersection during the blackout.

In Chicoutimi, police said officials were still trying to assess damage that included three house fires and collapsed chimneys. In nearby Jonquiere, two natural gas lines caught fire but the flames were quickly controlled and no injuries were reported.

Assessment to Continue

Anne Stevens, a seismologist for the Geological Survey of Canada, said there was only minimal damage because of “the depth of the quake, size of quake and quality of building construction.” But she said it could take days to determine if there was any structural weakening of buildings.

She also said there had been more than half a dozen aftershocks, some registering as high as 4.3.

A Geological Survey seismologist, Dr. Geotz Buchbinder, said earthquakes in eastern Canada are believed to be caused by old faults reactivated when the North American plate, one of about 20 rigid plates that make up the earth’s surface, moves westward toward the Pacific plate.

In New York, no major damage was reported in any of the city’s 800,000 buildings, although a number of apartment dwellers reported being shaken, said Vahe Tiryakian, a spokesman for the city’s Building Department. The department received six calls Friday from residents who reported “swaying” buildings.