Students and professors at UMass Amherst describe experiencing an earthquake

AMHERST, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Western Mass News spoke with both experts and students at UMass Amherst on Friday, following the northeastern earthquake that sent shockwaves throughout the area.

We talked with Professor Bill Clement from the Geology Department at UMass Amherst. He told us he was in his office inside the Morrill Science Center on campus at the time of the earthquake, and although he didn’t feel it himself, it generated quite the response from those who did.

In the hallway outside of Professor Clement’s office is a seismograph, displayed behind plexiglass for students and staff who walk into the Morrill Science Center to view.

Seismographs are used to detect and measure earthquakes.

On a typical day, UMass’s seismometer usually just shows waves from things like footsteps and other movements nearby, but on Friday, it picked up shockwaves from a 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered in New Jersey.

“I came out here and there were about 15 of us looking at the display,” he recalled.

Many right here in western Mass felt that earthquake including UMass Amherst students.

UMass student Danielle Martinez said, “I was on a Zoom meeting with one of my professors and I felt my desk shaking a little bit, and I was at home and my walls were creaking a little bit, it was very weird.”

However, while some at UMass Amherst felt the earthquake others just heard about it from friends or professors who used the quake as an opportunity to educate their students.

Fellow student Nicole Berry told us, “My teacher did pull up something on the class white board and was like, ‘hey guys did you know we just experienced an earthquake,’ even though we definitely did not feel it in the lab we were in.”

Although Professor Clement didn’t feel the earthquake from his second-floor office, he told us those on the upper floors of the Morrill Science Center did.

“Apparently on the 4th floor it rattled a few glass containers and stuff but down here it really didn’t do much,” he said.

So, why is it that some of us here in western Mass felt the quake while others didn’t?

“But like, if you’re in a taller building, the building’s going to shake a little bit more, or if you’re sitting quietly, you might feel it doing something actively on your car, or you’re focusing on something ride you might not feel it.”

Professor clement added that places with thick sediment tend to shake more, so those in deep valley areas such as Springfield or Holyoke will feel it a little more than places on a hill similar to Amherst.