Minor Earthquake Shakes Buffalo Suburbs


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A small earthquake rumbled through Buffalo and western New York Monday morning, alarming people in a region unaccustomed to such shaking but apparently causing no significant damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey preliminarily reported a 3.8-magnitude earthquake centered east of Buffalo in the suburb of West Seneca at about 6:15 a.m. Seismologist Yaareb Altaweel said it matched the intensity of the strongest earthquake the region has seen in 40 years of available records — a 3.8 quake that was recorded in November 1999.

The shaking lasted several seconds and sent residents first to their windows and then to social media in search of an explanation.

“It felt like a car hit my house in Buffalo. I jumped out of bed,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted. Erie County emergency services officials confirmed the earthquake was felt in at least a 30-mile radius, including in Niagara Falls, about 20 miles north of Buffalo, he said.

Even though the earthquake’s epicenter was more than 70 miles west of Rochester, it did reverberate here, Alex Hatem, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, confirmed.

Earthquakes are measured in two ways, she said. One is by magnitude, the other is by intensity — that is, how much the ground shakes.

On a scale from 1 to 10, the West Seneca earthquake produced an intensity of 4 in the Buffalo area, Hatem said, and a 2 in the Rochester area.

Earthquake Canada, which measured a 4.2 magnitude event, reported it was felt slightly in southern Ontario.

The earthquake comes on the heels of two record-breaking weather events in the Buffalo region: A snowstorm that dropped as much as 7 feet of snow in November and a blizzard in December that is blamed for 47 deaths.

Earthquakes in upstate New York, Rochester region

Earthquakes in New York State are not uncommon

The state’s largest earthquake was reported on Sept. 5, 1944, with an epicenter near Massena, St. Lawrence County. The 5.8-magnitude earthquake was felt from Canada to Maryland and Indiana to Maine. It did $2 million in damage in Massena and Cornwall, Canada.

It also shook homes in the Rochester area, and some residents who called authorities, but caused no significant damage here.

A magnitude-5.1 quake centered 45 miles northwest of Ottawa, Canada, caused a rumble in Rochester May 17, 2003.

Among some more recent minor earthquakes in western New York, a 1.2-magnitude temblor shook Le Roy, Genesee County, in August 2022, a 2.6-magnitude earthquake struck near Warsaw, Wyoming County, in March 2022 and a 2.4-magnitude temblor struck the hamlet of Tuscarora in southwestern Livingston County in May 2021.

Includes reporting by The Associated Press and Marcia Greenwood of the Democrat and Chronicle.

Note: This article is taen from democratandchronicle.com

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2023/02/06/buffalo-ny-earthquake-strongest-in-40-years-upstate-rochester-new-york/69876001007/

 

 

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