St. Catharines Downtown Association

Tim Collins was in a meeting on the top floor of a downtown St. Catharines office tower Wednesday afternoon when nature decided to rudely interrupt it.

An earthquake struck southern Ontario, Quebec and the northeastern United States at 1:41 p.m. and shook buildings from Montreal to St. Catharines. The shaking could be felt in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, St. Catharines and Muskoka. 

"Suddenly, our blinds in the boardroom actually started moving," said Collins, the general manager of Associated Brownfields, minutes after the quake, which measured 5.0 on the Richter scale.

"The building was swaying, and they were long sways," said Collins, who was in a meeting at 80 King St.

"So we all got up and looked at each other, wondering what to do ... so we just hit the stairs and got out."

St. Catharines fire officials reported no injuries or damage locally associated with the quake, but fire alarms were triggered and several buildings in downtown St. Catharines and Welland briefly emptied.

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