A seismologist with Natural Resources Canada says there was no earthquake in the North Bay area Wednesday morning.

Stephen Holchuk confirms there was shaking at 9:05 am in the North Bay area and they can normally tell the difference between earthquakes and blasts.

“By our instruments indication it was very shallow, so it’s hard for us to tell whether it was a shallow earthquake or some surface man-made activity,” he says.

Holchuk says they’ve since determined it was not an earthquake.

“Since talking with reporters and the local fire chief we’ve confirmed that there was blasting going on at the exact time, at 9:05,” he says.

Fire Chief Jason Whiteley says in a release, “Fire crews confirmed that Miller Paving at their Birches Rd quarry executed a controlled blast to produce aggregate for their upcoming highway project. City of North Bay Departments were unaware that the blasting was to take place today, therefore we could not make the public aware.”

People reportedly felt the jolt from West Ferris to Trout Lake to the Lake Nosbonsing area.

One listener we talked to lives in the O’Brien Street area.

He heard a bang and the whole house shook.

“First thought that goes through my mind, because I live so close to the bypass, is that something exploded, or the other thought was a natural gas explosion,” he says.

Another listener in the Ski Club Road area says the ground was rumbling for a while.

“My whole house shook and it sounded like a house had blown up,” she says. “The birds were all flying from the trees in my backyard,”