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According to Earthquake Track, which publishes a daily record of natures underground shifts, an earthquake of 2.5 on the Richter Scale was recorded in Peekskill and Garrison in southern Putnam County on July 5, a day after more obvious Fourth of July fireworks rocked the area. A couple of months earlier, an earthquake of magnitude 1.7 hit Mount Kisco on May 11.
The most recent earthquake in the area was the event on the Westchester-Putnam County border, which was felt by some residents. Earthquakes in the area happen anywhere in depth from 3 to 5 kilometers, according to Earthquake Track.
Most associate earthquakes with the West Coast -- one with a 6.0 magnitude hit as recently as last week in the San Francisco area -- the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. But 39 of the 50 states -- including New York and Tennessee -- have moderate to high seismic hazard risk, according to a 2011 report by World News Report.
Is there a possibility of a larger earthquake in the Hudson Valley? Or will the tiny shivers continue to go unnoticed?
The nearest fault line -- "125th Street Fault Line" below Manhattan -- does not compare to those on the California coast.
But a recent study released in 2013 by a group of scientists and engineers who formed the "New York City Area Consortium for Earthquake Loss Mitigation" concluded that a "catastrophic" earthquake with a magnitude of 6 or larger is possible in this region.
The group estimated that a magnitude 6 earthquake striking the region at 2 p.m. would cause up to 1,170 deaths and up to $40 billion in damages.
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