
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993                   TAG: 9307130218
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GREENSBORO                                LENGTH: Short

RARE QUAKE HITS GREENSBORO

Some residents were startled, but officials say the mild earthquake which rippled through southwest Greensboro Monday morning wasn't much to shake a stick at.

The temblor measured 2.7 on the Richter scale, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. It also made its mark as a rarity.

"Earthquakes are very, very infrequent. They have occurred in the western part of the state, but they're rare in that area," said Waverly Person of the National Earthquake Information Center in a telephone interview.

Police said they received phone calls from several hundred residents who said they felt a trembling sensation and heard what sounded like bombs.

Police called the National Weather Service office at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, which in turn called the earthquake center.

Person said the earthquake was recorded at 12:48 a.m. He said the last recorded earthquake in the Greensboro area was in 1883, measuring an intensity of 5, although no reading on the Richter scale was recorded. If it occurred at night, Person said, people might have been awakened by it, but it wouldn't have caused any damage.

by CNB