BOSTON -- People tend to overlook the possibilities of earthquakes happening in the New England area, but there have been reports of earthquake occurrences in the region over the past few years.

Fortunately, experts say not to worry. According to the Weston Observatory, which monitors earthquake activity, the probability of a potentially damaging earthquake above magnitude 5.0 in New England anytime soon is estimated to be 0.064 percent.

The magnitude of the earthquake in Japan was 8.1, which, according to experts, is an extremely large quake. Although there was a tsunami warning issued, the warning was later lifted as waves ended up fairly small.

"Every year in New England, we have about half a dozen earthquakes that are felt. We had a magnitude of 4.2 one year in the Bar Harbor, Maine, area on Oct. 2. The earthquake hit all of the state of Maine and cost minor rock falls, " said Dr. John Ebel, director of the Weston Observatory.

In 1929, according to Ebel, an earthquake off the grand banks of Newfoundland caused a submarine landslide. With a magnitude of 4.2, the earthquake caused a tsunami that went offshore in Newfoundland.

So exactly how damaging are these New England earthquakes and are they something we should be worried about? "Most earthquakes which have been recorded are not damaging; they are just rumbles or shakes," said Ebel.

The most recent earthquake was reported on Oct. 26 of this year, Northeast of Franklin.

Historically, one of the greatest earthquakes to ever occur in the New England area was in 1755 in Cape Ann. Peter Judge, head of Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said, "[The Cape Ann earthquake] was not too far off of what happened in Japan. The earthquake was a 7.2, 7.4 on the Richter scale. The earthquake in 1755 didn't do a lot of damage, obviously, but that same earthquake has been modeled out that if it were to occur today, would have costs of tens of billions of dollars worth of damage all the way down from Gloucester up to Boston."

While New England earthquakes don't appear to be something we should lose sleep over, there are considerations and precautions to keep in mind. "People should be aware of what we should do in the case that there is an earthquake. Injuries occur when things fall or walls cave in and, obviously, running outside puts you in danger. Protect yourself from falling things, so go under a heavy table, bed, or desk. Brick crumbles easily and that is the vast majority of construction around here," said Judge.

There is very little to nothing that we as human beings can do to prevent earthquakes. "We cannot prevent earthquakes themselves but we can build our buildings and bridges to withstand strong earthquake shaking. We constantly have sizeable provisions being done," said Ebel.