Updated 01/23/2010 08:02 AM
New York's worst earthquake in history no match for Haiti quake
The worst earthquake in the state's history is no match for the one that wreaked havoc in Haiti last week. But as our Sarah Hagen tells us, if that same quake were to hit Northern New York today, the damage would be much worse.
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MASSENA, N.Y. -- "At first, everyone thought it was a bomb from the Germans," said John Kormanyos.
September 5th, 1944. The worst earthquake in New York State's history shook the Massena-Cornwall region.
John Kormanyos described his experience from the 1944 earthquake: "I stepped up onto the porch to open the door and boom! That's when the earthquake hit."
No deaths were reported, but the area faced $2 million worth of damages.
Seismologist Frank Revetta said, "A lot of the buildings were damaged, the school, the bridges, it was a real frightening earthquake to the people who experienced it."
The Massena Center community found itself at the epicenter of the 1944 earthquake. Experts say the quake hit much harder in areas that were low-lying and had an abundance of Massena Clay, which makes the ground much weaker.
"If you load the clay into a truck and go down a bumpy road with the truck, the clay just liquefies, it just flows out. It loses its strength whenever it is shaken," said Revetta.
But those who experienced the 5.9 earthquake in 1944 say it's incomparable to other quakes around the world.
"When we see what happens in California and what happened in Haiti, we were fortunate," said Kormanyos.
Although, geologically, it would be rare for the Northeast region to ever see a similar 7.0 quake like the one in Haiti...
"The earthquakes in Haiti are more often, more frequent and bigger. That's because they lie along a plate boundary," said Revetta.
...experts say if the same New York quake were to hit today, it would be much worse.
"There is more population, more industry. It would definitely be more damaging," said Revetta.
But not expected any time soon. Northern New York frequently experiences shallow earthquakes ranging from 2.0 to 4.0 in scale.