Earthquake rocked Northeast Philadelphia and Bensalem

Posted: Saturday, May 28, 2011 5:45 pm
By George Mattar Staff Writer | 0 comments

The U.S. Geological Survey has confirmed a minor earthquake with a magnitude of 1.7 was the loud explosion residents near the Franklin Mills Mall and Bensalem felt late Friday.

The incident occurred about 9:33 p.m.when residents at Knights and Fairdale roads heard a loud explosion, Philadelphia police said.

The USGS said the earthquake was felt as far away as Cornwells Heights and was about 2.6 miles deep. The epicenter was on Fairdale Road.

There were more than 50 calls to 8th police district and 15 additional calls to the city's 911 center, reporting the noise. There was another loud noise about 3 a.m. at Whiting Road. That may have been an aftershock, authorities said.

There were no injuries or damage reported, said a Philadelphia police captain at the scene late Friday.

Mitchell Gold from the Lamont-Doherty Cooperative Seismographic Network confirmed the earthquake.

"It was a very small quake and yes they are infrequent in this part of the country. We usually see more earthquakes near the New York border," said Gold from his New York home adding earthquakes of magnitude less than 2.0 are rare.

He could not give an exact cause of the earthquake, but said there is no identified fault in that area.

"It was likely stress built up on a slip that caused the earthquake," Gold said.

There were several calls from residents on the Bensalem/Philadelphia border, but no damage reported there as well.

Hundreds of residents spilled out into the streets on a hot Friday night to see what happened.

Police, firefighters, Philadelphia Gas Works and PECO employees were on the scene until shortly before midnight trying to determine what caused the loud noise.

Now we know.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/my_town/eart ... efcca.html