Earthquake shakes Montreal area

A small earthquake was felt in and around the Montreal region early this morning, baffling some residents but causing no known damage.

Natural Resources Canada seismologist Allison Bent said it was a magnitude 4.5 quake and was centred east of the city.

"The epicentre is 21 kilometres west-northwest of Saint Hyacinthe, and that's about 37 kilometres from Montreal," Bent said in an interview from Ottawa.

There were no reports of damage, although the quake did create jitters that had some people scurrying briefly from their houses.

Laval, just north of Montreal, received 911 calls — more than 1,060 of them within 20 minutes of the tremor. Montreal had a higher than normal volume of calls as well.

"People were asking what exactly was happening. The 911 operators worked a good chunk of the night to reassure people and answer the stream of calls," Const. Simon Delorme of Montreal police said.

The temblor lasted about 10 seconds, causing buildings to rumble. But Bent said any serious damage was highly unlikely, and both the Montreal and Laval police forces said they had no reports of any.