Series of earthquakes strike south of Gilroy in US

A series of earthquakes struck south of Gilroy in US on Thursday.

According to the United States Geological Survey, a preliminary 3.4 magnitude earthquake struck south of Gilroy at 9:32 a.m.

The temblor was centered 7.9 miles south of Tres Pinos, 12.7 miles south-southeast of Hollister, 17.3 miles north of Soledad and 17.7 miles east of Salinas, the USGS said.

Two other earthquakes, a preliminary 3.3 magnitude reported at 11:16 a.m. and a preliminary 2.6 magnitude reported at 11:19 am., also struck the same area, according to the USGS.

A preliminary 3.4 magnitude earthquake later struck the same area at 11:28 a.m., according to the USGS.

At 12:17 p.m. a preliminary 2.8 magnitude earthquake in the same area. No other information was immediately available.

On the same day (Thursday) morning, an earthquake felt in eastern Ontario and western Quebec of Canada.

Earthquakes Canada reported a magnitude 3.7 earthquake occurred at 7:37 a.m. in Quebec, 40 km northeast of Cornwall and southeast of Valleyfield, Que.

"At 3.7, you're certainly not looking at anything that could be damaging," Chris Boucher, seismic analyst with the Ministry of Natural Resources, told CTV News Ottawa.

"At 3.7, it's going to feel like something like a large truck passing by very close, a bit of a jolt. You might hear a large bang….so nothing that could be damaging but certainly enough to remind us that this is a moderate earthquake zone and we do get earthquakes in the area."

Boucher says it's not unusual for the Ottawa Valley-St. Lawrence region to get two to three earthquakes of this magnitude each year.