Why You May Not Have Felt the Earthquake

Are you wondering why you didn't feel the Oct. 16 earthquake? The earthquake was felt by some people in the Seacoast area and towns west of Boston, Mass.,  but there were residents in each of those areas — even in the same towns — that said they felt nothing.

Earthquake shaking tends to be amplified in areas where there are soft soil conditions, according John Ebel, the director of the Weston Observatory, which studies and monitors earthquakes. If you live near a landfill, you will likely feel shaking more strongly than if you live on rock formations, Ebel said.

Also, some buildings have a stronger tendency to shake more than others, Ebel said. For example, some residents near the Virginia earthquake in 2011 felt the tremors, while others did not, he said.

Ebel spoke to Patch in the wake of the earthquake, after Twitter and Facebook lit up with users who reported feeling the tremors, while others did not. Waltham Patch Editor Ryan Grannan-Doll didn't feel the earthquake, while others in Waltham, Mass., did.

The same was true in Hampton, Greenland and Seabrook, where the earthquake was felt by some people, but not all, according to residents who spoke to Hampton-North Hampton Patch following the earthquake Tuesday.

Human sensitivity to tremors is another factor that determines whether they will feel earthquake termors, Ebel said. Humans have a natural sensitivity to feeling vibrations, but some are more sensitive than others, Ebel said. 

Ebel said the earthquake's final magnitude was 4.0, and the quake originated near Hollis, Maine. Ebel called it a "mild to moderate" tremor for New England. Earthquakes greater than a 4.0 magnitude occur every five to eight years, he said. The last earthquake above 4.0 in New England was in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 2006, he said.

When was the last time you felt an earthquake?