Latest quake in Tofino hasn't reduced risk of "the big one"

That 4.6 magnitude earthquake just off Tofino this week isn’t as closely tied to the recent “swarm” of activity off the northern tip of the Island as you might think.

Taimi Mulder is a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada.

Mulder also says if you think the recent quakes have “released the pressure”, that’s not quite true either. She says the pressure would only be released by a much larger event.

That means the likelihood of a really big quake, with a magnitude of 9, or a more local quake with a magnitude closer to 6 or 7, is just a high as it ever was.