Earthquake shakes Ontario
Earthquake epicentre in upstate New York
Canadian Press
Saturday, April 20, 2002
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NEW YORK (CP) - An earthquake felt throughout Ontario and Quebec and from Maine to Pennsylvania Saturday morning had a preliminary magnitude of 5.5, according to the Geological Survey of Canada.
The earthquake hit just before 7 a.m. The epicentre was 90 kilometres south of Valleyfield, Que., near Plattsburgh in northern New York near the Vermont and Canadian borders. Numerous residents in Ontario and Quebec called media outlets and emergency services to report the tremor. There were no reports of any damage in Canada.
The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake had a magnitude of 5.1.
A rural road partially collapsed in the town of AuSable, 20 kilometres south of Plattsburgh. A metre-wide strip of the road and the shoulders on each side caved in, said State Police Sgt. Larry Cragle.
In the neighbouring hamlet of Harkness, a minor county road was also collapsing, police said.
Sandy Caligiore, of Lake Placid, about 55 kilometres 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 100 kilometres 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 epicentre, 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 centred in Massena, about five kilometres 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 80 kilometres south of the epicentre 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 Quebec City and as far south as Philadelphia.
The USGS National Earthquake Information Center measured the earthquake's depth at five kilometres.
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.
© Copyright 2002 The Canadian Press