September 5, 1944 Earthquake: Ontario, Massena, Canada, New York, United States

1944 September 05, 04:38:46.21 UTC, 44.945 N 74.746 W, magnitude 5.74 Mw (reference #10476, v.10)

Reference #13657:

Although it was not a major seismic event, the September 5, 1944, earthquake did a great deal of damage to the cities of Cornwall, Ontario, and Massena, New York.

An estimate of the total damage in Cornwall at the time was placed at about $1 million.

The damage at Massena was valued at about $1 million.

In Cornwall one person was said to have been injured during the shaking, and in Massena one woman was cut by a picture frame that fell on her head. The lack of deaths and paucity of injuries in this earthquake are unquestionably due to the late hour of the event, as most people were at home and in bed.

There were scattered reports of some minor damage well outside the epicentral area. In New York State reports of chimney damage came from several places in St. Lawrence County as well as from Malone, Fort Covington, and Keeseville, the last about 65 miles (105 kilometers) from Massena. The earthquake shaking broke some water mains in Plattsburgh, and a window was broken in Rochester. Vermont likewise reported minor effects […] few chimneys were damaged in East Toronto

The most recent and most reliable study of the size of this earthquake, by Dr. Allison Bent, determined that the moment magnitude of the event was 5.8.