Natural Resources Canada sends seismologist to record McAdam quakes

Twoseismologistsfrom Ottawa have set upmeasuring equipment in the village ofMcAdam, which isstill being rattled byearthquakes eight days after the swarm of tremors began.

• Earthquake 'swarm' rattles New Brunswick village, breaks windows

Calvin Andrews, a technologistwithNatural Resources Canada,installed the first of four aftershock deployment kitsin the basement of the village high school Thursday morning.

"This took me about 15 minutes to set up and we're already streaming data into Ottawa now," he said."They're very sensitive."

He and seismologist Stephen Halchuk are installing these kits, because the nearest permanent seismometer is 40 kilometresaway in St. George, providinglessthan accurate data on the recent quakes.

Over the past eight days there have been dozens of small quakes under the village, measuring up to a3.3magnitude,strong enough to crack windows.

It's likely a fault, but it's very small.- Stephen Halchuk, seismologist

"I know residents aren't glad to hear it but I'm glad to hear that there were a couple of events last night, because I was afraid that as soon as we got permission to come down the earthquake stops," said Halchuk.

That's what happened last time Natural Resources Canada installed thedevices in McAdam, hesaid,after a similar swarm in 2012.This time, he hopes to learn a lot more.

"It's likely a fault, but it's very small," he said.

"There's no plate boundary here. There's not two plates interacting like you have on the west coast of NorthAmerica, so we can't point to a definite source and say that's what's causing the events."

Halchuk says the data won't help predict whena quake is coming, but it should give a better idea about the likelihood of any larger events in the future.

Natural Resources Canada says the four seismometers will be keptin McAdam for at least a few months.