Residents at the University of Connecticut felt the ground rumble under their feet on Sunday when shocks from a magnitude 3.6 earthquake reverberated from Massachusetts to Connecticut.
According to UConn’s Department of Geosciences, while New England has experienced earthquakes before, it is rare that they are large enough to be felt. There have not been any reports of an earthquake this large since October 2012, when an earthquake whose epicenter was in Maine was felt throughout Connecticut.
Seismographic data from the Department of Geosciences showed that the earthquake happened in the early morning around 9 a.m. and lasted almost five minutes.
Emily House, a first-semester student, said she did not feel the shocks from the quake because she was asleep at the time.
“But I did feel [the Maine earthquake] in 2012,” House said. “I’m from Massachusetts, and it was pretty big in Springfield … and apparently, even though I’m living on campus, I heard it shook my house this year too. Which is pretty crazy because I feel like we never really hear about earthquakes on this side.”
Kristen LaBanca, a seventh-semester student, said she hardly ever hears about natural disasters happening in New England, which is why the earthquake was so surprising for her and many other students.
“I feel like it’s very crazy to hear, especially in Connecticut where nothing [naturally] bad ever happens here, except for hurricanes,” LaBlanca said. “I’m glad everyone is safe, I’m shocked to hear that there was an earthquake.”
“I’m glad everyone is safe, I’m shocked to hear that there was an earthquake.”
Faculty in the Department of Geosciences said although the UConn area is not on the boundary of a tectonic plate, stresses in the interior of the plate can trigger ancient faults, which are often hundreds of millions of years old.