Scientists in the Hudson Valley have spent the past week studying the devastating Haiti earthquake in attempt to determine whether a similar seismic event could happen here at home.

Seismologist Bill Menke, a Columbia University professor working out of the La Mont Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, says although there are old fault lines in the area, there is no cause for concern.

"Haiti is on a major tectonic plate boundary," Menke says. "We here in New York are not."

Menke says even if a 7.0-magnitude earthquake were to hit New York, the devastation would be much less severe because structures here were built to withstand shaking.