The rumbling is done but southwestern Nova Scotia is still abuzz about the earthquake that rattled the area on Canada Day.

Just after 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a 3.8 magnitude earthquake struck, with its epicentre just off the coast of Digby Neck.

At a popular diner in the community of Baie Sainte-Marie, the rare occurrence was on the tip of many tongues.

Susan O’Connell was at the beach with her husband when it happened.

“All of a sudden this huge noise came,” O’Connell said.

She said the rumbling sound made her and her husband suspect an explosion had taken place.

“Your feet are shaking, your body is shaking and this huge noise — it's unbelievable,” O’Connell said.

“I looked at the cliff and the rocks were falling behind us,” she said.

Lianne Thibodeau says she was at her camp with some of her friends when they started to feel things shaking.

“And I was like ‘What's going on?’ Then we were like ‘Imagine if it was an earthquake’ and I was like ‘Naw,’” she said.

The earthquake was felt in communities throughout the southwestern part of the province, with people as far away as Saint John reporting they felt it too.

According to Earthquakes Canada, as of Thursday afternoon more than 350 people had answered an online survey about what they felt.

Experts say the rumbling sound many reported experiencing likely came from buildings shaking as the ground moved.

Though experts say earthquakes are more common in New Brunswick than in Nova Scotia, hundreds of similar events take place around the world every day.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Suzette Belliveau