The United States Geological Survey reported that an earthquake felt in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday was centered off York Harbor, Maine. A USGS map indicated that it was felt in New Hampshire and Rhode Island as well.
What time was the earthquake today?
The earthquake had a magnitude of 3.8 and occurred at 10:22 a.m. It was initially recorded as magnitude 4.1, then 3.9.
“This is like a once-in-five-years type of earthquake,” John Ebel, a senior scientist at Boston College’s Weston Observatory, told WBZ-TV.
The earthquake was more than eight miles deep, according to the USGS. The National Tsunami Warning Center in the United States declared that there was no tsunami threat to New England.
“We don’t sit on any active fault lines,” WBZ-TV’s executive weather producer Terry Eliasen explained. “But again for our area [it] is really significant.”
No reports of earthquake damage in Massachusetts
Shaking was felt for a few seconds in the vicinity, as well as in the WBZ-TV newsroom in Boston.
“My house shook pretty good,” said David Wade, a WBZ-TV anchor who lives just west of Boston. “It went on for what felt like a good five or 10 seconds.”
Anna Fletcher was working from her home office in Milton when the house began to shake.
“It shook probably four to five seconds pretty significantly, and I stood up to check things out but by that time everything was over and the dog started barking,” Fletcher recalled to WBZ-TV. “Your mind goes to anything but an earthquake when you live in New England.”
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said it had received reports of shaking throughout the state, but there were no immediate indications of damage.
“Remember, during an earthquake: drop, cover and hold on for safety,” according to the bureau.
Will there be earthquake aftershocks in Boston?
According to Ebel, “there certainly will be aftershocks that will be recorded seismically.”
“If the aftershocks get to be, you know, magnitude 2.8, 3,0, or 3.1, let’s say those will be felt probably by the people in the North Shore area of Massachusetts as well as coastal New Hampshire and south coastal Maine,” according to him.
Last year, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered in New Jersey was felt in parts of Massachusetts.
Earthquake shakes Maine
The early response to the earthquake was captured on police and fire scanner recordings from York County in Maine.
“We don’t know what’s going on. “We’re getting calls from all over town about an explosion,” a dispatcher is heard saying.
“We had a very large shake here at the station as well,” another passenger says.
Residents in York describe it as a frightening experience.
“I was standing right here, then there was a ‘boom,’ and then the entire house shook. Cindy McKenna stated, “And I looked up and the lights were swinging, so I picked up the phone and called 911, then I just ran outside.”
“I was vacuuming, and all the sudden, it sounded like a truck or an airplane engine or something, I mean, and the house shook,” Gene Raymond told me.
“A couple of things fell off my shelf and we literally thought something exploded, that’s what it sounded like, the building shook,” Dawn Milbury told me.
Nancy Begert was working at an OB/GYN practice in Portland, Maine, when the structure began to tremble.
“We all looked at each other, like, ‘What’s going on? And then when it was finished, we said, ‘I believe that was an earthquake,'” Begert explained. “One of the girls in another room had something fall off the desk, but no damage.”
Home damage after earthquake
The Maine Emergency Management Agency advised residents not to contact 911 unless it was an emergency. However, they did advise people to check their homes for any damage.
“That’s the typical thing to do following an earthquake. Check your house to ensure there are no cracks. “If you have a flammable heating source hooked up, make sure nothing was damaged,” said Nicole Pastana, Emergency Management Director.
