A morning earthquake rattled Upstate New York today, with some shaking reported by residents outside of Syracuse. USGS reported that at 9:08 am, from a depth of 5 km, an earthquake struck southwest of Watertown, northwest of Syracuse, and northeast of Rochester with a magnitude of 2.8. The epicenter of the earthquake was actually under water in the eastern part of Lake Ontario.
According to USGS, earthquakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less are rarely felt or heard by people, but once they exceed 2.0 , more and more people can feel them. While damage is possible with magnitude 3.0 events or greater, significant damage and casualties usually don’t occur until the magnitude of a seismic event rises to a 5.5 or greater rated event.
According to the Northeast States Emergency Consortium (NESEC), New York is a state with a very long history of earthquake activity that has touched all parts of the state. Since the first earthquake that was recorded in December 19, 1737, New York has had over 550 earthquakes centered within its state boundaries through 2016. It also has experienced strong ground shaking from earthquakes centered in nearby U.S. states and Canadian provinces. Most of the quakes in New York have taken place in the greater New York City area, in the Adirondack Mountains region, and in the western part of the state…