Earthquake in Maine Shook Office Buildings in Boston Area

By David Li, bostonese.com

Boston – An office worker was about to leave office a few minutes after a meeting ended at 7:00 PM ET, when he felt the three story office building north of Boston shook for a few seconds. “I ran over to the window, and saw the trees were not moving. So, it couldn’t be the wind,” he told reporter over the phone. Electricity and Internet services were not interrupted according to the office worker. One of his coworkers also felt the earthquake on the first floor of the office building. “It was like an elephant was walking on the second floor,” she said.

Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS, NEIC, Golden, Colorado (and predecessors) (from usgs.gov)

Ms. Wei Zheng, a researcher at Dana Farber Cancer Institute felt the earthquake in Boston’s Longwood medical research area. “Sit in the lab and felt like building’s shaking for 15 seconds,” she updated her Facebook state.




Further north, a mother with a young son living in the greater Manchester area posted on Facebook: “Earthquake!!! 4.5? In New Hampshire!!!”

Edmund Schuster felt it in Nashua, NH. He wrote on Facebook:”It was a gentle roll here. No shaking. I was sitting on the floor. More up and down sensation. It as like a gentle ocean wave.” He further commented that Earthquake wave can be linear or torsional. The torsional are bad. Linear is like an ocean wave. This was like a slow wave. Strange feeling.

In a statement just released, Governor Deval Patrick wrote: “Many Massachusetts residents felt the effects of an earthquake tonight. According to MEMA, which is monitoring events and has briefed me, the quake was centered some 30 miles outside of Portland, Maine. So far, we have no reports of injury or damage in Massachusetts. MEMA will continue to monitor the situation closely. Residents should use caution if they encounter any damage and take a minute to check in on neighbors, family and friends.”

According to the US Geographical Survey’s website (usgs.gov), there was a magnitude 4.6 earthquake five kilometers west of Hollis Center, Maine at 23:12:22 UTC today. For more details about the earthquake, please refer to earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000d75b#summary.