Feb 3, 2009 7:05 pm US/Eastern
3.0 Magnitude Earthquake Rattles Morris County, NJ
MORRIS COUNTY, N.J. (CBS) ―
An earthquake hit the Garden State Monday night and gave residents in Morris County a bit of a jolt.
It happened at 10:34 p.m. and triggered a flood of 9-1-1 calls. Fortunately, according to the U.S. Geographical Survey, there were no reports of any serious damage.
"It sounded like an explosion and the house shook," resident Dan Servidio said.
The epicenter was five miles west-northwest of Morristown, along the
Ramapo fault. It could be felt in Rockaway, Dover and Morris Plains as
far as 30 miles away.
"We felt rumbling and thought something fell off a shelf," resident Lisa Cheek said.
"I was upstairs on my computer, and all of a sudden I hear a boom, boom, boom, then a bang, bang, bang. My monitor almost fell off of my computer desk," said resident Stephen Garcia. "So I immediately went downstairs to check on my grandma and ask her if she was alright or if she fell."
Scientists said the quake was shallow, only two miles deep. It had a magnitude of 3.0. Seismologist Dr. Won-Young Kim is with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York where the quake was recorded. He said the quake was big for this area. "We usually have 2 or 2.5," he said.
The quake lasted almost ten seconds. Last July there was a 2.1. "Three or greater is very rare," he said.
What caused it was an abrupt shift of horizontal plates below the surface, along the faultline. It would've been felt farther away if the movement of plates was more intense.
Amy Vaughn, a Geophysicist from USGS also spoke with CBS 2 HD: "This is what's considered a micro-size quake. However, it is widely
felt in this area. But usually a quake of this size is not going to be
very damaging."
The official explanation: there's no fault line in that area, just a
shifting of the earth and scientists say small earthquakes or tremors
strike our area more often than people realize.
"I actually thought there was a huge plow in my driveway, cause there was such a huge rumbling," Bernie Recevello said.
Within the coming week there could be aftershocks, up to a magnitude 2. They have to be 1.5 in order to be felt.
Despite rattling some nerves across the area, no injuries were reported as a result of the 'quake.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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