Looking Back at Dartmouth's 2020 Earthquake

We don't experience earthquakes very often in our neck of the woods, but they do happen. Nor'easters, blizzards, and hurricanes are how we roll around these parts. An occasional tornado keeps us on our toes sometimes in summer.

The Day the Ground Shook in Dartmouth and New Bedford

As most of the SouthCoast was crawling out of bed or heading off to church or for breakfast on Sunday, November 8, 2020, the ground around Dartmouth's Bliss Corner neighborhood began to shake, rattle, and roll.

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake rumbled through the region. It happened at 9:10 a.m.

Epicenter, Aftershocks, and Property Damage Across the SouthCoast

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was centered in Buzzards Bay, roughly 4 to 6.8 miles south-southwest of Bliss Corner (just off Mishaum Point and south of New Bedford). The quake was 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) below the Earth's surface.

It was felt from Long Island, New York, to Manchester, New Hampshire, generating 29,000 calls to the USGS.

Most of the limited damage from the earthquake occurred in New Bedford, where several basements were cracked, and chimneys collapsed. USGS reports indicated that 21 people in New Bedford were displaced due to earthquake damage. No serious injuries were reported.

What you may not know is that two weeks to the day, another minor aftershock, magnitude 2.0, was recorded near the same location. It happened at 1 a.m., jiggling parts of Dartmouth and Fairhaven but causing no damage.

New England Is Earthquake Country: A Brief History Since 1638

The USGS says New England is "earthquake country."

"No, it does not have the high frequency of earthquakes of California or Japan; nevertheless, New England has experienced its fair share of tremors," according to the USGS.

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It's not a relatively new phenomenon, either.

"The Plymouth Pilgrims felt their first earthquake in 1638," the USGS reported. "The shaking so frightened those working in the fields that they threw down their tools and ran panic-stricken through the countryside." Remember, the Pilgrims also reported seeing UFOs.

The Northeast States Emergency Consortium says at least 408 earthquakes have been recorded in Massachusetts.

25 costliest hurricanes of all time

Although the full extent of damage caused by Hurricane Ian in the Southwest is still being realized, Ian is already being called one of the costliest storms to ever hit the U.S. Stacker took a look at NOAA data to extrapolate the costliest U.S. hurricanes of all time.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

Gallery Credit: KATELYN LEBOFF