Earthquakes happen everywhere, but are buildings built to handle them? Expert explains.

Earthquakes can happen virtually anywhere in the world, including Montreal.

Scientist Julie Payette explained that though seismically active areas such as the Pacific Ring of Fire have more earthquakes at a greater intensity, Quebec also experiences seismic activity, and it remains to be seen how well the buildings in the area are constructed to sustain them.

"We in Montreal sit in the middle of a big plate called the North American Plate, and that plate is enormous, it extends from about midway into the Atlantic Ocean all the way to BC," she said. "That fact that we sit on the middle of a plate makes us a little less prone to major earthquakes, but there are still ones that happen all the time."

Even the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Montreal in 1732 was nowhere near the intensity of the 7.8 Mw earthquake that hit Turkiye and Syria.

"[It] was still what we call a moderate seismic activity," said Payette of Montreal's biggest recorded quake. "The problem is that even a moderate earthquake is if your buildings are not very strong."

The Quebec government earthquake website includes information about the province's seismic zones as well as a guide of what to do before, during and after a quake.

Over a half dozen earthquakes in the past two years were big enough that citizens felt them.

Small earthquakes were reported near Montreal in January November and July, one in Charlexoix in December, one near Baie-Comeau in August and another was reported in northwestern Quebec in December 2021.

Watch Payette's full interview with CTV News anchor Mutsumi Takahashi above.