Earthquake shakes up New Englanders

BOSTON — The strongest earthquake to hit southern New England in decades rattled homes and nerves Sunday morning, but didn’t cause any significant damage, authorities said.

The 3.6 magnitude earthquake centered off the coast of New Bedford, Mass., in Buzzards Bay struck just after 9 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information Center. It hit at a depth of about 9.3 miles and was felt across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and into Connecticut and Long Island, N.Y.

About 14,000 people went to the agency’s website to report the earthquake, including people from Easthampton, Mass., and Hartford, Conn., both about 100 miles away, and several from more than 50 miles away in Boston, said Paul Caruso, a survey geophysicist.

“It’s common for them to be felt very far away because the rock here is old and continuous and transmits the energy a long way,” he said.

Chris Besse, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said there were reports of some structural damage to buildings in New Bedford, and urged anyone who felt the earthquake to check for such damage.

The Red Cross tweeted that it was helping 21 people who had been displaced from their New Bedford homes.

There were other reports of minor damage. Police in Fall River tweeted that they received numerous calls, including reports of items falling off shelves and street signs getting uprooted.