Earthquake hits as year goes out with a bang

On Wednesday, December 9, residents way Downeast may have heard and felt the telltale rumblings of a series of small earthquakes at 5:45 and 7:31 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. According to preliminary data collected by the United States Geological Survey, the earthquakes registered at 3.0 on the Richter scale and were at a shallow depth of 4.8 miles, with an epicenter at Moneymaker Lake in Robbinston.
Martha Brickett of Robbinston sure heard and felt the tremors. The first was a loud "kabang," but without a whole lot of rumbling, she reports. The second was like a loud clap of thunder right overhead with about 10 seconds of rumbling. "We could feel it under our feet." Everything shook, but thankfully nothing fell off shelves. However, the two household pups were not happy when they felt the earth shake under their paws. "One was outside. She came in so fast and went under my arm and wouldn't come out for anything." The other dog, more proactive about letting mother nature know about its displeasure with the proceedings, "barked for a good five minutes." She half joked that she was wondering if she'd see the town of St. Andrews floating out to sea.
In Calais, Marlys Farn-Guillette says she heard it more than felt it. She says, "I thought it was a construction truck," but her husband Larry knew immediately that it was an earthquake. "It didn't seem to have any impact," she adds.
Eastport and Lubec area residents felt the tremors, with houses vibrating in much the same way they do when a tractor-trailer rumbles down the street. And all the way out in Cooper, Karen Holmes reports that she felt a shaking that rattled her propane tanks.
One of the most active areas of seismic activity in the area is along the Oak Bay fault, a few miles northeast of St. Stephen. From Oak Bay the fault extends southeast along the St. Croix River and continues under the waters of Western Passage. The largest Maine earthquake, felt across New England and southeastern Canada in 1904, was centered in the Eastport area, where it toppled some chimneys and caused minor damage to buildings.
Earthquakes of 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale are termed moderate quakes and in more densely populated areas can cause some structural damage. The Richter scale is logarithmic, and so it encompasses a wide range of magnitude. A quake of 3.0 has 10 times the amplitude of one registering 2.0.
Brickett is grateful that the quakes only registered at 3.0. Given this year with the pandemic, she adds with a laugh, "We're going out with a bang."