Magnitude 3.6 earthquake shakes southern New England

A magnitude 3.6 quake that occurred near Buzzards Bay rattled southern New England Sunday morning and was felt as far away as Long Island. Nine families in New Bedford, MA were displaced and a number of area buildings were damaged by the quake. Earthquakes happen on a regular basis in New England, according to Prof. Alan Kafka who discussed the quake in recent media interviews (1, 2), but this is largest one to hit the region in decades. Prof. John Ebel, who was also interviewed about the quake by a number of media outlets (3, 4, 5, 6), says aftershocks could be felt in the next few days, but any potential shocks are unlikely to be bigger than Sunday's earthquake. To learn more about the history of seismic activity in the Northeast, see also Prof. Ebel's recent book on the topic (available on Amazon.com), entitled New England Earthquakes: The Surprising History of Seismic Activity in the Northeast.