New York earthquake felt in Kingston area

Residents in the Kingston, Ontario region reported feeling the shockwaves after an earthquake in New York State on Sunday afternoon.

According to seismograph data from Earthquakes Canada, the Kingston area registered shaking from the earthquake in the Syracuse, New York region at around 2:10 p.m. on Sunday, Apr. 23, 2023.

The earthquake’s magnitude was initially estimated at 4.6-4.7 on the Richter Scale, and later revised to about 3.6.

Dozens of residents took to social media to say they felt the earthquake in several parts of Kingston, as well as surrounding areas of Bath, Odessa, Napanee, Deseronto and Belleville.

“That’s what it was??” asked Leann Baird, after finding out the shaking she had felt was indeed from an earthquake. “I felt it in Deseronto! My dishes were rattling in my China cupboard!!!”

“Definitely felt it out on Highway 15 near Sunbury Road! Wasn’t sure what it was,” area resident Peggy Cornfield confirmed.

“Shook our glass in our cabinet and whole house,” said Keri Knox of Glenburnie.

The shaking, while felt in the region, did not appear to have caused any damage to Kingston-area structures.

The strongest earthquake experienced in the Kingston region within the past 10 years was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake on May 17, 2013, with an epicentre about 170 kilometres north of Kingston.