Posted on 04/20/2002 5:37:42 AM PDT by glorygirl
Edited on 07/06/2004 6:37:24 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
An earthquake felt from Maine to Pennsylvania rattled the Northeast Saturday morning with a preliminary magnitude measured at 5.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake hit just before 7 a.m. and was centered about 15 miles southwest of Plattsburgh, in northern New York near the Vermont and Canadian borders.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Earthquake rattles Northeast, felt from Maine to Pennsylvania
By VERENA DOBNIK
The Associated Press
4/20/02 8:58 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- An earthquake felt from Maine to Pennsylvania rattled the Northeast on Saturday morning with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The earthquake hit just before 7 a.m. and was centered about 15 miles southwest of Plattsburgh, in northern New York near the Vermont and Canadian borders.
A rural road partially collapsed in the town of AuSable, 12 miles south of Plattsburgh. A three-foot strip of the road and the shoulders on each side caved in, said State Police Sgt. Larry Cragle.
In the neighboring hamlet of Harkness, a minor county road was also collapsing, police said.
Sandy Caligiore, of Lake Placid, about 35 miles southwest of Plattsburgh, said he felt the shaking for about 30 seconds. It was so strong, decorations were falling off the walls, he said.
"I was getting out of the shower and the mirror was shaking. The whole house was shaking," said Darlene Conklin, who lives in Hopewell Junction, about 60 miles north of New York City. "My husband was watching TV, and he felt the couch shaking. You could see the doors shaking, the walls trembling."
The earthquake was recorded at 6:50 a.m., said William Ott, a seismologist at Weston Observatory at Boston College.
He said the quake was "moderate." A typical 5.1 earthquake would cause cracked plaster, broken windows and minor structural damage around the epicenter, he said.
"There are faults all over the northeastern United States," Ott said. "They're not as active as the ones in California, but they're capable of producing earthquakes of this size from time to time."
The largest earthquake recorded in New York, according to the USGS, was a 5.8 magnitude quake in 1944 that was centered in Massena, about 3 miles from the Canadian border.
Won Young Kim, a seismologist with the Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, said there was a magnitude 5.2 quake in 1993, about 50 miles south of the epicenter of Saturday's temblor. He said a magnitude 3.5 quake occurred just south of Plattsburgh on April 20, 2000.
Reports of the shaking Saturday came from as far north as Ontario and as far south as Philadelphia.
The USGS National Earthquake Information Center measured the earthquake's depth at 3.1 miles.
Kathleen Morrow, 31, of Northfield, in central Vermont, said the jolt woke her husband up and the shaking continued for several seconds.
"I had my feet on the floor ready to leave the house if it was going to be continuing or stronger," she said.
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On the Net:
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis
Thank the God I live in California.
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