Moderate Earthquake Strikes East of the U.S. Northeast; No Tsunami Threat

Today's earthquake struck well east-northeast of New York City and south of Newfoundland over the open water of the Atlantic Ocean. Image: USGS — Today’s earthquake struck well east-northeast of New York City and south of Newfoundland over the open water of the Atlantic Ocean. Image: USGS

A moderate earthquake struck the floor of the Atlantic Ocean well east of the Northeast coast of the United States and south of Newfoundland this afternoon; fortunately, there is no threat of tsunami to the U.S. East Coast nor to the Canadian coast from this seismic event.

According to USGS, the magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck at a depth of about 6.2 miles just before 1 pm ET today. The epicenter was located approximately 150 miles due south of Saint-Pierre, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in Newfoundland and roughly 950 miles east-northeast of New York City, New York. The earthquake struck in an area not seismically active; over the last 7 days, there wasn’t any earthquake of any magnitude within 500 miles of today’s earthquake.

Because the earthquake happened far off-shore, there was no damage to land. And because the earthquake was only moderate and not strong, there was no threat of tsunami to any nearby coastal areas.