This material will be in the daily summary, but I thought it interesting
enough to make a special post of it.

MINOR EARTHQUAKE SHAKES MANHATTAN, NEW YORK NORTH OF TRADE TOWER DEBRIS FIELD
MODERATE, RARE EARTHQUAKE HITS SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA (ML 5.1)

SUMMARY

MANHATTAN EARTHQUAKE

An earthquake occurred in New York City, N.Y and was felt in Manhattan
this morning of Ml 2.6. This is the largest earthquake within
50 km of New York City since a Ml 3.1 in Connecticut on Jan. 9, 1992
and the second largest in this region since Aug 1980 (a Ml 2.4 occurred
about near today's epicenter on Jan 17, 2001). Current NEIS
parameters for this event are:

O: 27Oct2001 05:42:20 40.8N 74.0W LG=2.6 NEIS NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

FAR-FIELD TRIGGERING:

The Mw 7.5 Banda Sea earthquake of October 19 may have helped trigger
this event. The FFA forecast from that event had specifically
noted eastern New York (this earthquake lies in the Hudson River
valley near Yonkers, New York on the eastern border of New York State)
The FFA forecast had said:

"Areas of U.S. and Canada where triggering may occuR (Ml>=3)

New England/Eastern New York"

Recall that two days ago a Ml 3.5 occurred in central Maine, the
largest event in New England in nearly one-and-a-half years.

GEOMAGNETIC EFFECTS:

Both of these areas were under seismic watch at the time of
the earthquakes. The report of October 21 had stated:

"A strong sudden commencement storm arrived at about 16:48 UT
today (October 21, 2001). This is the first expected arrival of the
CME from the X-flares of two days ago. Areas which were sub-solar
at the time of the commencement are at 72 +/- 20 degrees W longitude
or anti-solar areas are at 108 +/- 20 degrees E longitude. These
regions are expected to see increased seismic activity for the next
4 days with strong events possible on Oct. 25-27."

A Mb 5.6 also occurred at 72W earlier on October 26 in the
Central Peru area. A second Mb5.6-6.0 event occurred in Yunnan
this morning at 101E.

EXTREMELY RARE (ML 5.1) EARTHQUAKES SHAKES SOUTHEASTERN AUSTRALIA

An earthquake also occurred this morning in southeastern Australia wiht
the following parameters. For details see:
http://www.seis.com.au/EQ/Earthquakes.html

O: 27OCT2001 07:58 35.3S 143.6E ML=5.1 MEL Swan Hill, Vic/NSW Australia

This earthquake occurred near Swan Hill on the Victoria - New
South Wales border. It was the largest earthquake to have occurred in southeast
Australia since the Ellalong NSW earthquake in August 1994. Its epicentre was
about 10 km east of Swan Hill, about 300 km northwest of Melbourne. There have
been reports of minor damage in the Swan Hill area, with some chimneys being
toppled. Power to the region was briefly interrupted. An earthquake of this
size would be expected to be felt to a distance of about 100km from the
epicentre.
This is the first earthquake of Ml>=5 ever to be located within
200 km of this epicenter, so it is indeed a rare event.

FAR-FIELD TRIGGERING

This earthquake is probably a FFA from the Banda Sea Earthquake (Mw 7.5)
of 19 October as it lies at 36.0 degrees from that event, a distance
at which FFA's are expected to occur. A small shock occurred west of
this location on 25 October (see yesterday's report). This is the second
unusual earthquake in Australia since the Banda Sea earthquake, the
previous was on October 19 in southwest Australia (see previous reports).

The FFA forecast from Banda had stated:

"Secondary location where event tend to occur but are not
as large or as likely . MB>=4.8 considered likely in next
10 days.

So. of Australia"

GEOMAGNETIC EFFECTS:

The area was also under seismic watch conditions from the geomagnetic
storms of 21-23 October as stated in the report from 26 October:

"Large earthquakes are possible today and tomorrow [26 and 27 October],
especially within 30 degrees of 80W and 100E due to the geomagnetic storms
of October 21-23, with less potential within 20 degrees of 160E
and 20W as well as at high latitudes."

Following the report a moderately strong (Mb 5.6-6.0) earthquakes
also occurred in Yunnan, China at 101E. This event could have caused
considerable destruction, given the earthquake history of that area.
A Mb5.6-6.0 also occurred in the Vanuatu Islands at 168E last night.