Buffalo, New York area hit by strongest earthquake in 40 years

A magnitude 3.8 earthquake hit Monday morning near Buffalo, New York, the strongest recorded in the region in 40 years.

The United States earthquake struck 1.24 miles east-northeast of West Seneca, New York, with a depth of 1.86 miles around 6:15 a.m., according to the United States Geological Survey.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said no damage report have been hosted so far in West Seneca, a suburb of Buffalo near the Canada-US border.

He added that he spoke with Erie County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Gregory J. Butcher, who said a “confirmed earthquake was felt as far north as Niagara Falls and south to Orchard Park”.

“It felt like a car had hit my house in Buffalo. I jumped out of bed” Poloncarz said.

Yaareb Altaweel, a seismologist at the National Earthquake Information Center, said earthquakes in the northeast “happen all the time” and can strike anywhere and at any time.

Since 1983, there have been 24 earthquakes greater than magnitude 2.5 in the West Seneca region, with Monday being the largest so far in the region.

Altaweel said another magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurred in 1999 in western New York.

“On an earthquake scale, 3.8 isn’t that big. But the crust in this region is an old crust. It’s old and cold and the efficiency of seismic wave transfer compared to sedimentary areas – that’s why people can feel it more. This is why earthquakes can be felt even at 1.0 in some places,” Altaweel explained.

Altaweel said a magnitude 3.8 quake is “not a big earthquake that you would expect damage from.”

Pre-existing fractures and pre-existing fault lines can cause earthquakes to strike well inland, he said.

Altaweel said there was nothing wrong with the clash.

“I would say it’s completely normal. There was one, a 2.6 in March 2022. There were 2 more in 2020. It continues to happen in this low magnitude region,” he explained.

Around the world, a first earthquake of magnitude 7.8 in southeastern Turkey was followed hours later by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake that shook buildings and left more than 1,800 dead in the country and neighboring Syria. The balance sheet should increase sharply on both sides of the border.