Small earthquake shakes Snye area

If you live in the Tsi Snaihne (Snye) or State Road areas of Akwesasne and heard a loud bang Saturday night you weren’t imagining things. According to Natural Resources Canada, a 2.2. magnitude earthquake rumbled just underneath the territory between 7 p.m. and midnight with it’s epicenter near the end of Hart Road just south of Drum Street. It could be Akwesasne’s first earthquake, although previous earthquakes with epicenters near the territory have been felt many times.

“In the St. Lawrence and Ottawa valleys we do have a fair number of earthquakes every year,” said NRC Seismologist Janet Drysdale. “There have been earthquakes in and around the Cornwall area in the past…in 1944 there was a 5.7 magnitude earthquake between Cornwall and Massena that caused a fair amount of damage. A lot of chimneys were knocked off homes.”

Residents of Snye and the surrounding area reported hearing a loud “ bang” on Saturday night and some felt a mild tremor. Drysdale said small earthquakes can often be heard instead of felt and witnesses will describe it as sounding like a big truck going by or a big boom.

Saturday’s 2.2 earthquake could likely only be heard and felt for 10 miles, Drysdale said, explaining why it was mainly reported to be felt in Snye alone.

“A 2.2 is pretty little,” she said. “If people are at rest or doing nothing they might feel a slight vibration, whereas if someone was actively doing something it would go virtually unnoticed.”

Earthquakes generally have to be a 3.0 magnitude to be heard and felt, Drysdale said, but sometimes residents immediately around the epicenter can feel smaller ones.

Cathy Mitchell who lives on Wade LaFrance Memorial Road said she heard a big boom that reminded her of the sonic booms from the old Plattsburgh Air Base planes that would pass over Akwesasne.

“I went outside to see what it was,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it was an earthquake or an explosion.”

Shortly after, her mother phoned saying the boom had been heard on Johnson Road also. Later, the earthquake was recorded online.

Drysdale did not immediately know if any other earthquakes have been centered beneath Akwesasne but said she would not be surprised if there have been small ones from time to time.