Montreal rattled by 4.5 magnitude quake

MONTREAL — Residents were shaken by a 4.5 magnitude earthquake early Wednesday morning which was felt as far as Ottawa and Vermont.

The temblor began at 12:19 a.m. and lasted around 10 seconds, but was strong enough to cause buildings to shake and "knock objects off shelves," CTV News reported. Its epicenter was about 21 miles northeast of Montreal. 

A viewer told CTV Montreal that the quake “started like a boom then shook our large house with vibrations.” 

More from GlobalPost: Italian scientists face jail time over failure to predict deadly L'Aquila earthquake

The earthquake did not cause any serious damage or injuries, but "generated a lot of 911 calls," said Constable Simon Delorme of Montreal police, according to the Montreal Gazette. 

It also inspired wisecracks and memes, collected on a joke Facebook page titled "I survived the 2012 Montreal earthquake," which had over 1,700 likes as of Wednesday afternoon. 

According to Johanna Wagstaffe, A meteorologist and seismologist for the Canadian Broadcast Corp., the Montreal region experiences small earthquakes roughly every five days, but most aren't strong enough to be felt, UPI reported.