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There was a small eatrhquake through a fault line here a few years back. It was the oddest feeling. There was a slight sound and a small vibration, which you could feel coming up through your feet.

Back in '84, I experienced one, while living on LI. It was like everything we have ever read on this topic ... the rattling of patio doors, the sound of a 'train' running past the house; quite eerie.

BTW, Con Edison had originally planned to build its plant in lower Manhattan. They dug down to bedrock and were in the final planning stages, when an engineer recalled some old maps with fault lines. They dug down another 100' to a fault cavern, then proceeded to close up the excavation, build a children's playground and move the plant across the East River to Queens.

Isn't there a Nuclear Plant in the Ramapo Valley?

While there have been some earthquakes in the New York City area, none really have been very strong (I think some of the quakes were in the low 4s) and the fault is not even close to as potent as the San Andreas fault.

To answer another FReepers' question, yes. The fault line runs through Westchester County (somewhat close to the Indian Point Nuclear power plant in Buchanan).

As far as a tidal wave affecting Manhattan goes, for some reason I just don't see that happening. Long Island and the Jersey Shore, maybe, but not Manhattan itself (it might hit on the Atlantic Ocean side of Queens and Brooklyn, but would leave most of the island of Manhattan alone unscathed. Manhattan is not on the ocean, but is on a tidal basin (New York Harbor ), at the terminus of the Hudson and East Rivers, which is somewhat protected from heavy surf (even when we had those NorEasters up in my former place of residence).

Mo1, I agree. This is textbook "scare the public 101," New York City (and all of those liberals that live there) is not going to fall off the face of the Earth anytime soon.

When I lived in the Phillipines as a kid, they had earthquakes all the time. most very small, some moderate, and a few that caused my dad's booze to fall off the shelves on his bar.

Usually, they were so slight, you could only feel them if you were lying on your stomach (like on the floor doing homework), but you could always hear when one was happening because some roofing would always rattle.