Something Not Usually Experienced in Pennsylvania

[JWFilips]

Well at about 10:20 am this morning We felt the ground shake & Karen and I both thought it was just one of the big Heavy Industrial Trucks that frequent our area.
Roads are bumpy and ground is hollow from the Anthracite Mines! Happens a lot; however Our large Orange Tabby "Tangi" started running around the house like a crazy cat! A few minutes after, the news broke in with a report that there was a 4.8 earthquake in New Jersey about 75 miles to our southeast!

 

[fiver]

and 45 minutes later the alert system went off in NYC letting everyone know it was a minor [nuthin happened] emergency.

 

[Missionary]

Hey ... Welcome to the Earthquake Club ! Good to read your OK and stuff did not cascade to the floor. A big issue with Quakes is the depth. That NJ was only 2.9 miles so whoever was within 30 miles got a good shaking.
We have numerous small ones each day. 4.0-5.0 occurs 2-4 times a year.
Largest we have been in was a 6.1 in 2001. After a while they just get common and a part of life.

 

[RBHarter]

I lived on a granite plate . Had a 3.6 at 1.6 miles deep centered 4.8 miles away . We literally lived on the shoulder of the fault. That was probably the most violent one I've experienced. Most of the other 100s of others just rolled , that one banged .

Expect to see water mains , gas ,and fuel line failures in the coming weeks across the region blamed on everything except the quakes ....

 

[imashooter2]

4th of my life, 2nd I’ve felt. Heard a rumble and the house vibrated. I thought it was a low jet landing at PHL.

 

[smokeywolf]

64 years of my life in KaliforniaStan. Didn't pay much attention if it wasn't at least a 5.0.

 

[Jeff H]

Some of the OLDEST mountains in North America (or remains thereof) in PA.

Something's bound to happen - yawn, stretch, restless leg syndrome, gotta get up to pee...

Now, those "kids" on the Pacific Rim,... They're just always looking to get attention.

 

[Ian]

We have little ones all the time in Texas, but I've never actually noticed or experienced a big one anywhere. Seen videos, must be pretty weird.

Missionary, judging by the damage to the ancient ruins all over Peru at high altitude, there must have been some real hum-dinger 'quakes in the distant past.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

Yup felt it here in CT too! I think they said it was a 3.5 here.

 

[todd]

here in swPA, we didn't feel a thing.

 

[waco]

Well up here in the Pacific rim they tell us we are way over due for a big one.
Really? You better hit it hard. I don't want to limp away from this piece of sh%t.

 

[Missionary]

About every two months some area within 100 miles of our backyard gets a 6-6.5. Generally they are of the 50-100 mile deep types so not alot of damage. But the shallow ones of less than 30 miles deep get interesting.
There is an active volcano roughly 70 miles NW from us that is the main pressure valve relief for now. Sabancaja today lets out a small steady smoke spew which in itself is good. Then 60 miles NE of us is volcano Ubinas which right now is taking a nap. Those two sort of trade off working as the pressure valve.
But when they both are not spewing ash is when something is going to happen nearby.
2001 was the big one around here. 6.0 at 3:42 pm here in Arequipa. The mountain valley I visit Yalaque was close to the epi-center about 15 miles or so. 7.2 or so there.
The day after it happened I rode the Kaw up there. The closer I got the more rocks in the road. One area called Chapi was a mess. Boulder strewn enough so it was a challenge to get the Kaw through. The large religious Shrine was destroyed.
When I got to Yalaque Valley every house / building was down. The house we used to meet in was a pile of rubble with a near intact corrugated roof on top. The school and clinic was destroyed. The small catholic church was reduced to the bell tower.
Happily most everyone in the valley was outside working when it hit mostly in the up-down motion.
The next valley to the east (3 miles) was the epi-center. It is a waterless valley so no one lives there.

As waco stated the experts say we are overdo. The last 8+ was 60 years ago. 23,000+ were buried by that one.

We were in Mexico when that "big one" ripped through in 1985. In Queretaro where we lived it was a 6. Mostly our plate just swayed.
100 miles south, Mexico City was devastated. They only acknowledged the 7000 + bodies they could identify. The real count was probably near 45,000 as that was how many "missing persons" were never found.
We were at the US Embasy one month later to get Passports. Everywhere most buildings over 4 stories tall were down. We had 3 hours to wait on the passports so we went for a walk. It looked and smelled like a tank division had gone through.