Dracut Earthquake felt last night
Some Lowell Dracut and Tyngsboro residents area felt a minor earthquake last night. I sure did as I was working in my house and thought a big truck was driving by.
It was only 1.5 in magnitude but officials say it was strong enough to shake a few homes and trip a breaker at a Massachusetts Electric substation in Dracut. The resulting loud noise prompted about 150 nervous residents to dial 9-1-1.
Boston College’s Weston Observatory said the tremor occurred shortly before 7:30 p-m and was centered on the Dracut-Lowell line.
Dracut firefighters located the tripped breaker fairly quickly, but public-safety agencies continued efforts to figure out what happened because they felt that alone would not have shaken houses.
Bob Willett, who lives at 27 Kevin Road in East Dracut, said he was sitting for a few seconds to watch television when he heard and felt the Dracut earthquake.
He said the shaking lasted three or four seconds and was accompanied by a sound similar to dynamite exploding.
“It was like a boom — almost like an explosion, like blasting,†Willett said. “One of my lights went out because the light wasn’t completely tight in the socket.â€
Willett thought there may have been a gas explosion at a nearby home so he went outside to check other buildings on his street but found nothing.
He said his nephew, who lives on Methuen Street, also felt the shaking and heard the blast.
Though the latitude and longitude of the quake puts it in Belvidere, Dracut got the most calls about the event, where police estimated they got 60 to 80 calls on 911 lines.
Judge said there are about a half-dozen small earthquakes in Massachusetts each year, and that the area is in what is considered a “moderate earthquake zone.â€
He said almost all the quakes are under magnitude 2.0, so they rarely cause any property damage or injuries. There were no reports of damage or injuries last night.
Judge said earthquakes in this area are caused by the shifting of plates in the earth’s crust and are not directly sparked by a major fault line, such as the San Andreas Fault in California.
“That’s why they tend to be all over the place,†he said. “We can get them everywhere.â€
Judge said earthquakes are not something Massachusetts residents need to spend much time worrying about, but he said there was at least one major earthquake here 250 years ago.
That incident, known as the “Cape Anne Earthquake,†was a magnitude 7.2 shaker that hit Gloucester in 1755.
Such an earthquake would do billions in damage today, which prompted the state to stiffen building codes in the early 1970s, Judge said.