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Could the Big One hit Boston?

Little known fun fact: There are four areas in the U.S. considered to be at risk for potentially devastating earthquakes: the Pacific coast, southern Illinois and Missouri, Charleston, S.C. and Boston.

The main reason we should stop making fun of people who move to California is the Cape Ann Earthquake of 1755, which, Michael informs us, happened 250 years ago today:

In Boston, hundreds of walls and chimneys collapsed and fell to the ground. John Adams, one of many people who reported on the quake, noted that the tremors lasted for about four minutes. In Pembroke and Scituate chasms opened in the earth and sand reached the surface. Sailors on the sea felt as if the ships were striking land. The earthquake was felt from Lake George, New York to 200 miles east of the cape and from Chesapeake Bay to Montreal and Nova Scotia. ...

It also knocked the grasshopper off Faneuil Hall and, as Michael adds, was blamed on Benjamin Franklin, because God was expressing his ire at Franklin's attempt to stop divine lightning from smoting sinners with his newfangled lightning rods. Modern scientists estimate it between 6.0 and 6.3 on the Richter scale.

Also see:

The Cape Ann Earthquake of November 1755, by John Ebel, director of BC's Weston Observatory and a great person to be around during a major earthquake (because during a quake, Ebel wobble but he don't fall down).
Why does the Earth Quake in New England?
Stanford chuckles at the possibility of widespread devastation in Boston
Minor quake shakes Plymouth

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Comments

(the following website should be quite interesting reading on
earthquakes in New England. Quotated paragraph is from the web site)

"This is a map of the New England region showing states, counties and many cities and towns (red symbols) throughout the region. The green-shaded areas are based on an analysis of the earthquake activity of magnitude 2.7 or greater from 1975 to 1988. According to our analysis of the statistics of earthquakes that occurred between 1989 and 1998, there is a 66 percent chance that the next earthquake of magnitude 2.7 or greater in New England will occur in one of the green areas."

New England Earthquake Probability

just map

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