Maine Earthquake Felt Here

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake off the Maine seacoast Monday morning was felt by a number of people on Cape Cod. The temblor, which caused no apparent damage even near its epicenter off York, Maine, caused five or six seconds of shaking and was widely felt around New England.

The Harwich Police Department reports receiving several calls from residents asking about the shaking. In the department’s records office, a heavy rolling filing cabinet began to rattle, leaving employees briefly confused. 

Within a few minutes, thousands of people had reported feeling the tremor, using an online tool available at earthquakes.usgs.gov. Most reported feeling a very minor shaking sensation. Initially calculated as a magnitude 4.1 event, the estimate was downgraded to 3.8. According to the USGS, the earthquake happened at 10:22 a.m. just over 6.2 miles southeast of York Harbor, at a depth of about eight miles. There was no risk of tsunami, officials said.

According to the Weston Observatory at Boston College, whose seismographs recorded the event, minor earthquakes are regular occurrences in New England; one off the coast of Cape Ann in 1755 was a magnitude 6.2 tremor, which knocked down chimneys and stone walls and was felt for many miles.