'Swarms' of earthquakes rattle McAdam, N.B.

After a two-year hiatus, earthquakes have resumed shaking a New Brunswick village.

Earthquakes Canada has recorded 22 quakes on the western edge of the province near the border withthe United States, most of them in an area that includesMcAdam.

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"It's like a very loud bang and it wakes you up in the middle of the night," said KenStannix, mayor of the village of about 1,150.

"It just sounds like you had a water heater in the basement explode. It's quite a little jolt."

Stephen Halchuk, a seismologist at Natural Resources Canada, said most of the earthquakes in the area have been small, with the largest one a magnitude of about 2.5.

The most recent quake was April 3.

In 2016, more than 100 earthquakes shook theMcAdamarea.

Cause still remains a mystery

Halchuk doesn't know what got the earthquakes going again this year.

"This area seems to have swarms of events that occur," he said. "They turn on and turn off, and can be quiet for a few years."

Similar groups of earthquakes have also occurred in Maine and Connecticut.

"The earthquakes are all very small and then they die off again," Halchuk said.

Historically, earthquake activity in New Brunswick has beenscattered across the province.

The last major earthquake, a magnitude 5, hit the Miramichi area in the 1980s, Halchuk said.

Others have hit south of the St. Stephen area,where there is an area of weakness in the Earth's crust thatgenerates quakes, he said.

Always be prepared

Stannix isn't aware of any damage to buildings,but the earthquakes of 2016 shook theirwindows and knocked ornaments offshelves.

"Certainly, it was worse in 2016. There was a larger number of more intense quakes."

People have grown used to the latest bunch, Stannix said.

Although there's no indication the earthquakes are getting larger, he said peopleshould always beprepared for a natural disaster, and keep enoughwater and canned food on hand.

Watch the reaction from McAdamin 2016 when there was another bunch of earthquakes

Mysterious earthquake 'swarm' rattles NB village

9 years ago

Duration 2:12

Village of McAdam again hit by dozens of small quakes as seismologists search for answers