New York Earthquake

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Date-Time 2002 04 20 10:50:44 UTC
Location 44.51N 73.66W
Depth 5.0 kilometers
Magnitude 5.1
Region NEW YORK
Reference 15 miles (25 km) SW of Plattsburgh, New York
Source USGS NEIC
5.1 magnitude earthquake rattles Northeast, tremors felt from Maine to Maryland
Sat Apr 20, 9:14 PM ET

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press Writer

AU SABLE FORKS, New York - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 shook the Northeast, collapsing roads in New York and rattling homes from Maine to Maryland. No injuries were immediately reported.
The quake, centered 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Plattsburgh, New York, left cracks in foundations and chimneys throughout the region Saturday, said Ray Thatcher, director of emergency services for Essex County.

"It was shaking pretty good," said Jimmy Mussaw, who said he was standing in a Plattsburgh supermarket just before 7 a.m. Saturday when the walls and beams begin to shake. "Everybody was running from the back of the store to the front."

State inspectors were sent to the Adirondack region to examine roads and bridges for structural damage. The state Department of Environmental Conservation inspected all the dams in the area and found no damage.

In the nearby hamlet of Jay, the earthquake caused an explosion that disrupted a New York State Electric & Gas substation, sending sparks into the sky and cutting power to about 3,500 residents.

William Ott, a seismologist at Weston Observatory at Boston College, said the quake had a magnitude of 5.1, and at least two aftershocks were reported.

The quake broke off a 100-foot (30-meter) section from one road in Ausable, said David Fessette, highway construction supervisor for Clinton County. Parts of at least two other roads collapsed, and there were several water main breaks in the area.

At Adirondack Mountain Spirits in Ausable, the earthquake rattled liquor bottles off the shelves.

"It was just a mess," said owner Dayle Richards. "Even if they didn't break, they were covered with other debris."

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 (5 kilometers) from the Canadian border.

Tremors also were felt in Canada, as far east as Boston and Portland, Maine**, and as far south as Baltimore.
?So what if it had been a 8~9 on the Reciter scale?
?Could This level of Damage have focused Bush at home and Prevented Iraq?

**
Tremors also were felt in Canada, as far east as Boston and Portland,
?When did Boston and Portland, become part of Canada?:D:D
 
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?So what if it had been a 8~9 on the Reciter scale?

Exceedingly unlikely, for various reasons. While you get little tremors fairly often in e.g. southern Ontario, big earthquakes require a major fault line and tectonic plate movement, which you just don't have here. Also, looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale
it seems like the lower 48 have never had an earthquake stronger than ~8.0 and those were on the San Andreas and related fault zones.

Actually, the New Madrid quake of 1812 may have been about 8.0, but there is a major (if somewhat orphaned) fault zone there.

8-9 in the Adirondacks is ASB, sorry
 
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