It happened yesterday a little before ten in the morning... At first we heard what sounded like a loud boom, almost like a close by clap of thunder - yet the sun was definitely out... Then the entire house rattled and shook for a good 5-10 seconds. It was nothing major and there was no damage... but it was definitely more than noticeable.
The only thing slightly unsettling about the whole ordeal was simply that we had no idea what the hell it was... The thought of an earthquake didn't even register with us at first, hell wasn't even on our list of possibilities since earthquakes - especially ones that are actually felt, are very, very rare in this part of the country in general... Even more so in this particular area since South Jersey sits on a coastal plain.
But sure enough - it was an actual, honest-to-goodness earthquake... It was a magnitude 2.8 and the epicenter was approximately 12 miles, as the crow flies from our house.
Granted... It was an undoubtedly small one and I'm sure there are many others on here that have experienced far worse. But again, the sheer rarity of something like such happening here made it all the more notable. The last time I personally remember one similar was all the way back in 1990... I believe that one was a 3.2 and prior to that, my father had told me there was a 3.8 quake that shook the area in February of '73 which they remember clearly. Evidently, it caused such a stir that my mother went into false labor and was rushed to the hospital - all for nothing however, since I ended up stubbornly staying in there for another three weeks... lol.
Anyway... It was quite an event yesterday!
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/.../ld1024312.php http://www.philly.com/philly/news/br..._Delaware.html