Rare earthquake shakes New England; felt as far as NYC

A small but rare earthquake in the New England area of the U.S. was widely felt across the region and as far away as New York City, according to seismologists.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 3.8, struck the coast near the border of Maine and New Hampshire on Monday, approximately 6.5 miles from York Harbor, Maine, and 9.7 miles from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). It was centered about 8.2 miles below the surface, which is considered “shallow.”

Thousands of people reported feeling the shaking across the New England region, including in cities such as Boston, Providence, Springfield, Worcester, Hartford, Lewiston, Portland, Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and Portsmouth, among others. Reports also came in from as far away as parts of New York City, New Jersey, and Vermont, according to the USGS.

Videos shared on social media captured a strong but brief jolt during the earthquake. Regional authorities reported no significant damage.

“All at once the whole house was shaking, I looked up and the lights were swinging,” Cindy McKenna, a resident of York near the earthquake’s epicenter, told WBZ. “I picked up the phone and called 911 and I said ‘huge explosion at my house’ and then I just ran outside.”

Earthquakes are rare in this region, with the USGS recording only 21 earthquakes of magnitude 3.0 or higher in the area between Massachusetts Bay, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and the Saco River since 1900.

East Coast earthquakes tend to be felt across a much wider area compared to those in other parts of the U.S. In 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck Virginia, with shaking felt by up to one-third of the U.S. population, according to seismologists. Damage was reported as far away as New York City, and the Washington Monument in D.C. sustained cracks.