A magnitude 3.8 earthquake, strong by Maine standards, struck the northeast coast this morning, generating tens of thousands of reports of shaking to USGS via their “Did you feel it?” web reporting tool. The earthquake, which was initially reported as a magnitude 4.1 event, also prompted the National Weather Service’s National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) to issue a bulletin; fortunately, the NTWC said there is no threat of tsunami to the U.S. East Coast from this seismic event.
According to USGS, the earthquake struck just south and east of York, Maine and east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire about 5 miles from shore from a depth of 10 km. The earthquake struck at 10:22 am. As of publication time, USGS reported that just over 23,000 people reported feeling the earthquake throughout the northeast, with many of those reports coming from the Boston metro region in southeastern New England.
People reported hearing loud noises as things shook, doors swung, and animals reacted. As of now, there are no reports of significant damage or injuries from the earthquake.
At 10:26 am, the NTWC issued a bulletin sharing details of the earthquake and added, “There is NO tsunami danger from this earthquake.” They added, “This will be the only U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center message issued for this event unless additional information becomes available.
While not famous for their earthquakes, Maine does get them from time to time. Last July, a magnitude 2.1 earthquake outside of Augusta.
A magnitude 2.5 struck west of August on August 8, 2023. On September 16 2023, a weaker magnitude 2.3 earthquake struck to the west of today’s. On April 24, 2022, an earthquake of similar intensity also struck central Maine. Earlier that month, on April 2, a magnitude 2.0 earthquake struck about 7 miles southeast of Waterville, near the Winslow-China town line. On March 8, a magnitude 2.1 earthquake struck about 2 miles north of Tunk Lake in eastern Hancock County. On February 12, a magnitude 2.4 earthquake struck 12 miles west of Houlton; some locals reported feeling shaking then. On February 4, a magnitude 2.9 event was widely felt in the Bethel area of western Maine, 8 miles from the epicenter in Gorham, New Hampshire. People up to 25 miles away from the epicenter of that earthquake felt it in Maine. Two earthquakes of a 2.0 magnitude hit on January 17 ; one was 2 miles west of Springvale, the other was about 1/2 mile south of Springvale.
Today’s earthquake was the strongest to strike Maine in the last 12 months.
The strongest earthquake to strike Maine in the last 10 years was a magnitude 4.5 event on October 16, 2012 in East Waterboro, about 13 miles northwest of Saco.
According to the Maine Geological Survey with the Department of Conservation, seismic activity in Maine is typical of the Appalachian region of northeastern North America. “There is a low but steady rate of earthquake occurrence,” they report, adding that “The earthquakes are presumably caused by modern stress being released occasionally along zones of weakness in the earth’s crust, but a more specific cause for the earthquake activity is not known.”
