Today in Earthquake History

Today's Earthquake Fact:
One of man's persistent fears about earthquakes is that the Earth will open and swallow everyone and everything nearby. Shallow crevasses can form during earthquake-induced landslides, lateral spreads, or other types of ground failures. Faults, however, do not open up during an earthquake. Movement occurs along the plane of a fault, not perpendicular to it. If faults opened up, no earthquake would occur because there would be no friction to lock them together.

Year at a Glance

March

Note: All earthquake dates are UTC, not local time.

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Year	Location	Magnitude	Comment

1933	Long Beach, California	6.4	Local time: March 10 17:54 PST. This earthquake caused serious damage to weak masonry structures on land fill from Los Angeles south to Laguna Beach. Property damage was estimated at $40 million, and 115 people were killed. Abridged from Seismicity of the United States, 1568-1989 (Revised), by Carl W. Stover and Jerry L. Coffman.

1957	Fox Islands, Alaska	7.0	One of the Largest Earthquakes in the United States.

1976	Near Newport, Rhode Island	3.5	The largest historical earthquake in Rhode Island. Plaster cracked at Rogers, Connecticut; a lamp fell from a table at Newport, Rhode Island; amd snow was knocked off a roof at Westport, Massachusetts. Felt from Oakland, Rhode Island, south to Newport and from Somerset, Massachusetts, south to New Bedford and Westport.

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