Last Monday evening, Jan. 11, as I finished my blog on our
cold weather, I previewed my next piece about earthquakes in Chadds Ford, never
imagining that two days later a horrific 7.0 earthquake would destroy
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, possibly killing an estimated 200,000 people.
Henze DuVert, a tall, handsome, black man with a French
accent, is the director of Building and Grounds at the Mendenhall Hotel and
Inn. He was born in Port-au-Prince. Since the earthquake on Jan. 13, he has
been unable to contact his father, stepmother or brother in Port-au-Prince.
Smaller earthquakes in the Philadelphia area are not
unknown–even in Chadds Ford.
Several years ago in the early ‘70s when I was living with
my parents on the Main Line, I awoke in the middle of the night to a deafening
roar with the whole house shaking. In my state of half-sleep I thought a
helicopter was about to land on our roof.
After what seemed an eternity, it stopped. Having lived
through such events in the mid-west, our father assured us it was an
earthquake, and walked through the house checking the walls for cracks.
Indeed, the next morning, KYW and the Philadelphia Inquirer
reported this Delaware Valley earthquake. It was considered small, a 4.2 or
something, but more than big enough for me.
But why the loud noise?
During an earthquake, when tectonic plates shift, seismic
waves, like sound waves or waves radiating outward when you throw a pebble into
a lake, travel though the earth’s crust, carrying massive amounts of energy,
causing the strong trembling and the loud noise.
Now flash forward about 12 years to Sunday, April 22, 1984.
It was Easter evening and I was now living in my own home in Chadds Ford.
About 8:36 p.m., as I was working on some lesson plans for
school, my couch, walls and floor began to shake, accompanied by a loud
rumbling noise. I initially thought the heater in the basement was going to
explode. After the shaking stopped about 15 seconds later (a very long time
when you don’t know what is happening), I ran to my front window to check to
see if some unusually large monster trunk was trying to make it up our hill for
some reason.
Seeing none, I realized I had experienced another
earthquake.
The next morning, television and newspapers reported a 4.1
earthquake with an epicenter 15 miles south of Lancaste. The quake had been
felt from Connecticut to Virginia.
Experts termed it a “light” earthquake.
An article in the Daily Local News by Michael P. Rellahan
and UPI wire sources said: “The Chester County Department of Emergency Services
reported receiving 400 calls about the tremor within a 20 minute period after
the shaking had stopped. A spokesman there said most callers thought their
furnace had broken.”
An easily observed fault in our area is the Wissahickon
fault – massive formations of quartzite and schist, that can be observed as you
walk the rugged park trails that crisscross the dramatic Wissahickon Valley
gorge just outside of Philadelphia.
Other areas of older seismic activity in the area are the
Embreeville Thrust, the Street Road Fault and the Rosemont Fault, running
southwest from the Wissahickon fault through Chadds Ford.
So hold on and get ready to rock!
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...
Spoke with Henze DuVert this morning:
His father, stepmother and brother are safe but their house has been destroyed.
sjd
1-21-10