Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Midstate quakes have area shook up
Sunday, December 28, 2008
BY LARA BRENCKLE
Of The Patriot-News
Maria Coole of Lancaster was home early Saturday watching a DVD of the mortuary-themed show "Six Feet Under" when she heard a "strange, roaring rumble" that "came from a little more than six feet under," she said. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com
The noise sent Coole to her feet and her two dogs into a panic.
"I knew immediately it was an earthquake," Coole said. http://34819louis0j0sheehan0esquire.wordpress.com
More than 1,000 people called the Lancaster County 911 center after the earthquake, which occurred just after midnight and was centered near the Salunga/Landisville area.
The U.S. Geological Survey confirmed a 3.3-magnitude quake. It could be felt as far west as Carlisle, as far east as Malvern in Chester County, north into Lebanon County and south into Maryland, according to the Geological Survey.
A dispatcher with the Lebanon County Emergency Management Agency said dispatchers there got a few calls from the Cornwall and South Lebanon Twp. areas.
A Cumberland County dispatcher said the center got at least one call from someone who felt it in the Mechanicsburg area, and at least one Harrisburg-area resident called The Patriot-News.
"I was really just unnerved," Coole said. "I wasn't frightened for my life, but I was unnerved for about an hour afterward."
This isn't the first time the midstate has felt the earth shaking this year.
In October, dozens of small earthquakes, averaging about 2.0 on the Richter scale, rattled Dillsburg and had residents wondering if their homes and businesses were safe.
A team of seismologists from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University came to the area to set up portable seismographs in backyards in hopes of recording more quakes or aftershocks.
Carroll Twp. and Dillsburg officials also organized a town meeting, attended by earth science and geological experts, to reassure residents that what they are feeling is perfectly normal for East Coast earthquakes, which are considerably less dramatic and damaging than those in California.
The cracking, roaring sound Coole heard is similar to the sounds Dillsburg residents experienced.
At the time, Charles Scharnberger, a retired professor of earth science from Millersville University, said it was possible Dillsburg could have a fault plane somewhere, or there was a large formation of diabase rock -- an ancient, rigid rock that fails explosively when it cracks -- nearby.
It usually takes a 4.0 on the Richter scale to crack pavement or rock, said John Costino, a technician with the observatory.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. LARA BRENCKLE: 255-8154 or lbrenckle@patriot-news.com
ON THE WEB
U.S. Geological Survey map of Saturday's earthquake: earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/dyfi/events/us/2008bcah/us/index.html
©2009 Patriot-News
© 2009 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
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