Reaction to Maine earthquake

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - People in Western Massachusetts are reacting after feeling the effects of a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Maine Tuesday night.

The quake struck about 20 miles west of Portland at 7:12 PM, but could be felt as far away as Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Long Island.

"I was in a chair at the kitchen table, all of a sudden I felt the whole earth move and I was like what's going on," said Jerry Mitchell of Chicopee.

"Around 7:00, I was on the phone, I felt this slight tremor in the house.  I looked around and could see a couple of things shaking, like a flask on top of a cabinet, and soon after my wife yells out from upstairs, 'What was that'," said Joe Zadroga from Conway.

But others felt nothing at all.

"I have a house full of kids and that's probably why I felt nothing," joked Darcy Quatacker from South Hadley.

See what people across western Massachusetts had to say about the quake on social media

22News Storm Team Meteorologist Nick Bannin said there are several factors that determine whether people felt the quake.

"What's the ground beneath you made of?  Is it hard or soft.? Is it going to absorb the tremor or pass it on to you?  What type of building are you in? As well as the distance away and the size of the earthquake, will affect whether you feel it or not, " said Bannin.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, people in New England have been feeling earthquakes dating back to Colonial times.

The largest and most damaging earthquakes recorded in New England were in 1638 when a 6.5 hit Vermont and New Hampshire, and, in 1755, a 5.8 hit off the coast of Boston causing damage to the Boston waterfront.