Small earthquake jolts Merrimack Valley

December 22, 2008 05:32 PM Email| Comments (4)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

While the snowflakes tumbled out of the heavens Sunday in the Merrimack Valley area, something else was going on in the earth beneath residents' feet: a small earthquake.

The 1.8-magnitude temblor struck at about 5:35 p.m. just east of the center of Haverhill, said professor John Ebel, director of Boston College's Weston Observatory.

Ebel said residents reported the temblor to police who reported it to the Massachusetts Emergency Agency, which reported it to him.

The quake was so small it didn't trigger any alarms in his equipment, but when he checked the data, he said, "Lo and behold, there was the earthquake."

Ebel said Sunday's quake was about 1,000 times smaller than a quake that would cause damage. But he noted that quakes have been felt "pretty regularly" in the Newburyport, Amesbury, and Haverhill areas during the past 20 years.

He said he had spoken to a Newburyport resident about the quake. "She said there was a noise, an explosion-type sound, and the shake lasted 2 or 3 seconds. That's classic for a quake of this size," he said.

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4 comments so far...

A prelude the the big one predicted for the Boston area?

Posted by bert f. December 22, 08 08:53 PM

I worked on Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco @ 5:04 pm during game 3 of the A's vs Giants first ever World Series by the Bay....a 7.0 upgraded later to a 7.1, and boy up in the Anchorage Shopping center we were truly rocking and rolling for almost a minute....I should not be here if it weren't for the Earthquake proof construction that leveled the Marina District around the corner. i watched as the city turned into what looked like a war zone, traffic lites gone out, 3 story building leveled down to 1 and 2 floors, and fires so intense you could feel the heat across the street from the burning building. At nite, and I lived over the Golden Gate in Mill Valley in 1989, you could still see a blacked out skyline and numerous large fires still burning... I will never forget that day and would not wish it upon the likes of the construction back here...we would be screwed.
The lawyers here would have a field day!

Posted by CFraser December 22, 08 09:57 PM

Standing in our Boxford kitchen with my family, we heard and felt the quake. We thought it was either thunder or an explosion. My family's first quake!

Posted by TimH December 22, 08 11:06 PM

Here she comes!!!(We're way over due.)Prepare yourselves and be vigilant.

Posted by buyamoon December 23, 08 08:38 AM