Experts say earthquakes are not totally uncommon in New York. Our Kat De Maria spoke with professors at two universities about the history of quakes here and why they make waves throughout the state when they do happen.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For someone who has spent his life studying earthquakes, what Syracuse University professor Jeff Karson felt Wednesday was a first for him and many others in Central New York.

"Oh, it was very exciting. I was sitting in my chair at my desk. And it gently rocked back and forth. And I knew what it was immediately," said Karson, chair of SU's Earth Sciences Department.

It was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Ottawa, part of what Karson calls the Eastern Ontario earthquake zone. He and Cornell University Seismology Professor Muawia Barazangi say the region from Ottawa to the St. Lawrence Seaway is an active, known belt.

"That's an area where there's an old fault zone that's creaking and groaning as the earth adjusts around it," Karson said.

Unlike their west coast counterparts, the experts say eastern quakes tend to be less severe but more widespread.

"This quake, it's about 500 kilometers away from Ithaca, New York. But it's felt all over the area because seismic energy transmits efficiently in Eastern United States," Barazangi said.

The U.S. Geological Survey's website details earthquakes felt in New York starting in the 1600s. The site shows a magnitude seven quake in Quebec in 1925 and another major one ten years later. Since then, the experts say there have been others like the one experienced Wednesday.

"There are many large quakes, by large I mean between five to six, happened in the New York area. In the Adirondacks, in 1985, there was magnitude 5.5. Also in 1940s, there was the Massena earthquake along the St. Lawrence waterway," Barazangi said.

Although the earthquakes aren't uncommon, the experts say chances for Central New Yorkers to experience one only happen a few times in a lifetime.

"Yeah. That's right. Or every couple of decades we might have an earthquake we could feel here in Syracuse," Karson said.