The New York City Earthquake of 1884.

[NQ6U]

I've heard that some fairly big earthquakes in Calif
aren't felt a mile or so away.

A bit of exaggeration but not completely wrong. It's true that the geology here does tend to absorb the energy of an earthquake. For instance, I wasn't even aware of the two that hit here this morning even though they were only a hundred miles away. On the other hand, I sure did feel the one that hit on Easter Sunday a couple of years ago, which was farther away but much more powerful.

[N2NH]

A bit of exaggeration but not completely wrong. It's true that the geology here does tend to absorb the energy of an earthquake. For instance, I wasn't even aware of the two that hit here this morning even though they were only a hundred miles away. On the other hand, I sure did feel the one that hit on Easter Sunday a couple of years ago, which was farther away but much more powerful.

I can't imagine how you do it. I wasn't thrilled about the little bump we got from Cheesequake, NJ back in '79 and that was a pop-gun compared to a Super Nova when those big quakes hit there.