April 20, 2002

11:28 AM

Quake hits northeastern US and Canada
The Irish Times reports that an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale rocked southern Quebec and Ontario today, as well as parts of the northeastern United States. Did any MeFi'ers feel it?
posted by tomcosgrave (23 comments total)

I did. Can I sue Canada?
posted by Postroad at 11:46 AM on April 20, 2002

I'm in London Ontario and didn't feel a thing. No surprise in this sleepy city.
posted by ashbury at 12:04 PM on April 20, 2002

didn't feel a thing here in portland, maine. heard it on the radio over brunch and did a "huh?"
posted by damn yankee at 12:22 PM on April 20, 2002

Woke me up in Concord NH...
posted by anathema at 12:50 PM on April 20, 2002

It woke me up in Montreal. No question in my mind that it was an earthquake. I've heard no reports of any damage here; the only photo I've seen of any is this one of minor highway subsidence south of Plattsburgh, NY.
posted by zadcat at 12:52 PM on April 20, 2002

I'm in upstate NY (75 miles or so from the epicenter). Woke me up towards the end. I said to myself, "Damn, that felt like an earthquake. Nah, I live in NY, must be more hungover than I thought," and promptly went back to sleep.

It wasn't until I signed on and IM's started flowing in that I realised it really was an earthquake. A buddy in Jay, just south of the epicenter, said a couple of bridges were closed, a few roads washed out and some pictures fell off some walls.

More at http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_deam.html.
posted by cedar at 1:10 PM on April 20, 2002

Woke me up in Toronto too. I thought my brother was trying to wake me up by shaking my bed.
posted by margaretlam at 1:15 PM on April 20, 2002

Don't worry. Everyone in Cleveland is fine.
posted by sadie01221975 at 1:30 PM on April 20, 2002

Felt it in my part of Maine, about an hour north of Portland.
posted by JanetLand at 1:40 PM on April 20, 2002

I felt it in Syracuse, NY. I was already up, but it was strong enough to wake my wife and one of my kids. It takes more than an earthquake to wake the other one.
posted by maurice at 1:51 PM on April 20, 2002

i think i must have slept through it.
posted by sunexplodes at 1:52 PM on April 20, 2002

Didn't feel a thing in NYC.
posted by riffola at 2:03 PM on April 20, 2002

the only photo I've seen of any is this one of minor highway subsidence south of Plattsburgh, NY.

holy shit, that's 5 miles from my Dad's house! I guess I ought to stop surfing and pick up the phone
posted by machaus at 2:07 PM on April 20, 2002

Almost has boring as that Robert Blake mess. I miss those big quakes that cause lots of damage and killed tons of people. This is just boring. There was an earthquake, only picture we have is part of a screwed up road. Mother Nature needs to get her act together next time.
posted by Keen at 2:11 PM on April 20, 2002

Don't worry, Keen, it can't be far off... Portland, OR is supposed to have a majorly destructive earthquake every 300 years, and we're on 303... !
posted by SpecialK at 3:46 PM on April 20, 2002

Almost has boring as that Robert Blake mess. I miss those big quakes that cause lots of damage and killed tons of people...

Yeah, damn shame it wasn't more exciting. A few images of limbs strewn about, newly homeless people wandering in the wreckage with vacant eyes and a child searching in vain for his/her parents surely would help keep your attention.

After all, that's what it's about, keeping your attention with gory pictures of other peoples misery.
posted by cedar at 4:40 PM on April 20, 2002

My wife felt it here in Boston; it also rattled one of the window shades, she says (me, I slept through it...).

Boston: Another Bay Area where quakes mean big trouble
posted by agaffin at 5:38 PM on April 20, 2002

Most definitely felt it in Ottawa, Ontario. At first I was sure it was the construction guys next door doing something stupid with large machines again... they sometimes have the nerve to do that crap on Saturday mornings.
posted by danwalker at 6:18 PM on April 20, 2002

We didn't feel the earthquake either, although the panicked barking of our next door neighbor's dogs woke us up at what (in retrospect) must have about that time.

What does continue to amaze me, however, is how many folks from Maine there are on MeFi!
posted by anastasiav at 6:34 PM on April 20, 2002

Slept right through it here in Montreal, and kind of just stared at the screen when I read about it on CBC.ca this afternoon.

"But *I* live in Montreal. Why didn't I feel it? Oh... 7am. Right. Sleep."
posted by juliebug at 6:42 PM on April 20, 2002

I too felt it here in Montreal (TMR to be precise). Around 6:50 my room started shaking (3rd floor of an apartment bldng); pretty nerve racking since you don't know how strong it'll turn out to be.

It's the second time I've felt an earthquake. The first was in Toronto abour 3 or 4 years ago. Anyone remember that one? It was really light and not very long (4 secs maybe).
posted by Why at 7:06 PM on April 20, 2002

My sister, who lives in Brookfield, Connecticut (near Danbury, in central western CT), apparently felt it. She said she thought it was her (big) dog, stuck somewhere in the house, trying to get unstuck, but then she noticed that all the ceiling fans were jostling.
posted by crunchland at 7:08 PM on April 20, 2002

It woke me up in NYC. Of course, I sleep on a rickety loft bed, so it might have been kind of magnified for me.

my earth science teacher back in high school claimed that it was only a matter of time until a huge earthquake hit the northeast. his theory was that the current earthquake activity is less than it should be given the size of the faults here, so all that energy is building up underground and someday it will all be let loose in one massive earthquake. or something like that.
posted by boltman at 9:32 PM on April 20, 2002