The epicenter of each earthquake in the last 7 days is represented by a red dot within colored concentric rings. Image: USGS
It’s been a busy last seven days in the Northeast, seismic-wise, with more than 1,000 people reporting to the USGS that they felt tremors from one of three earthquakes that hit the region. While they were notable, they were all too weak to cause any damage or injury.
According to the USGS, earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0, as this event did, more and more people can feel them. While damage may occur with events of magnitude 3.0 or greater, significant damage or casualties typically do not occur until the magnitude of a seismic event increases to 5.5 or greater.
The first and weakest of the last 7 days was a magnitude 1.6 that hit just west-southwest of Chesterfield in southwestern New Hampshire on the morning of May 18. The second and second strongest of the group struck on May 21 near Elizabethtown in upstate New York. ; that earthquake was measured as a magnitude 2.1 event. The most recent earthquake of the three was also the strongest; A magnitude 2.9 earthquake struck near Gladstone, New Jersey, generating more than 900 reports to the USGS alone about shaking my people there.
The New Jersey earthquake was an aftershock of a strong shake that hit the region in early April. The New Jersey earthquake sequence began with a magnitude 4.8 event on Friday, April 5, and has been followed by more than 100 aftershocks, including some quite moderate ones. According to the USGS, a magnitude 3.7 event occurred near Bedminster just before 6 p.m. on April 5, and 10 other earthquakes measured an event of magnitude 2.0 or greater.
The earthquakes in New York and New Hampshire were minor and occur occasionally in the region.
According to the Northeastern States Emergency Consortium (NESEC), New York is a state with a long history of seismic activity that has affected all parts of the state. Since the first earthquake was recorded on December 19, 1737, New York has had more than 550 earthquakes centered within its state lines as of 2016. It has also experienced strong ground shaking due to earthquakes centered in nearby US states. and Canadian provinces. Most earthquakes in New York have occurred in the New York City metropolitan area, in the Adirondack Mountains region, and in the western part of the state.
New York is no stranger to earthquakes; This map shows the epicenter of each earthquake from 1975 to 2017. Image: NESEC
While many of the earthquakes that hit New York are weak, like the one on May 21, some have been damaging. Of the 551 earthquakes recorded between 1737 and 2016, 5 were considered “damaging”: 1737, 1929, 1944, 1983 and 2002.
While most of New York’s earthquakes have occurred upstate, New York City has also suffered damaging earthquakes over the years. At approximately 10:30 p.m. on December 18, 1737, an earthquake with an unknown epicenter struck New York with an estimated magnitude of 5.2. That earthquake damaged some chimneys in the city. On August 10, 1884, another earthquake measuring 5.2 occurred; This earthquake cracked chimneys and plaster, broke windows, and threw items off shelves not only in New York City, but also in the surrounding cities of New York and New Jersey. The shaking from the 1884 earthquake was felt as far west as Toledo, Ohio and as far east as Penobscot Bay, Maine. Some in Baltimore, Maryland, were also reported to have felt it.
While the U.S. West Coast is best known for its earthquakes, there is a considerable risk of earthquakes in other parts of the country. Image: USGS
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