The Globe and Mail: Tremors may mean 'Big One' on its way

The Globe and Mail: Tremors may mean 'Big One' on its way: "By MARK HUME

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 Posted at 6:15 AM EDT

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

* E-mail Mark Hume
* Read Bio
* Latest Columns

Vancouver — A silent tectonic event, so powerful it has shifted southern Vancouver Island out to sea, but so subtle nobody has felt a thing, is slowly unfolding on the West Coast.

Scientists who are tracking the event with sensitive seismographs and earth orbiting satellites warn it could be a trigger for a massive earthquake -- some time, maybe soon.

But they are quick to add that the imperceptible tremors emanating from deep beneath the surface are sending signals scientists are not yet able to comprehend fully and 'the Big One' might yet be 200 years off.

What they do know is that the earth is moving this week on the West Coast as two massive tectonic plates slip past each other."