Small Quake in RI Saturday Evening, Fourth in a Month

Posted: Jun 12, 2022 / 08:59 AM EDT

Updated: Jun 12, 2022 / 09:53 AM EDT

PORSTMOUTH, R.I. – (WPRI) For the fourth time in a month, parts of Rhode Island were shaken by an earthquake.

At around 8:52 PM EDT, the Magnitude 1.6 quake hit near Portsmouth.

Here's the seismogram from the Weston Observatory. You can see the quake on the black line. The Magnitude 1.6 earthquake hit around 8:52 PM EDT Saturday evening. This is the fourth quake to hit Rhode Island in a month. pic.twitter.com/9x7uxD0f2x
— T.J. Del Santo ⚡🔭 (@tjdelsanto) June 12, 2022

While certainly not strong, the tremor was felt in Bristol, Barrington and East Providence, according to reports on the United States Geological Survey’s “Did You Feel It?” web page.

This earthquake comes just four weeks after three earthquakes shook parts of Rhode Island, all centered off the Narragansett coast.

After those three quakes in May, Professor Brian Savage of the Department of Geosciences at URI, said we shouldn’t be concerned as we really have not had a large earthquake here.

Savage added that New England has faults which are hundreds of millions of years old, existing from when parts of New England were connected to Africa. Occasionally those faults slip, resulting in small earthquakes.

No damage was reported from the quakes in May or Saturday evening.

In November, 2020, a Magnitude 3.6 earthquake in Dartmouth, MA caused minor damage in the area.