At least five earthquakes shook in parts of New Hampshire this year, and a scientist said the frequency is not statistically unusual.“It’s nothing unusual,” Dr. Alan Kafka, director of Weston Observatory, told WMUR. “Nothing is standing out.”Kafka said about a dozen earthquakes with at least a 2.0-magnitude strength were detected in the Granite State since the start of 2020.The most recent quake was a magnitude-2.3 one centered in Deering on Saturday night. No damage was reported.According to the USGS, the other quakes this year happened in Wolfeboro in May, in the Lancaster area in April, in Gorham in February and in Sanbornton in mid-January. According to the Weston Observatory, one was also recorded in Epping on Jan. 1.Kafka said seismologists are studying why New Hampshire sees earthquakes despite not being on a fault line."The other possibility is that these are aftershocks of large earthquakes that happened long ago, the largest one being in New Hampshire in 1638, about a magnitude six and a half, seven,” Kafka said.Earthquakes in the Granite State are typically minor, though there have been memorable ones. In 2012, a 4.0-magnitude earthquake centered in southern Maine rocked New Hampshire and was felt from as far away as Connecticut.In 1982, an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 4.0 was centered near Laconia and Sanbornton. The quake collapsed telephone poles and shook homes, but there were no reports of injuries or major damage at the time.The most significant earthquakes centered in New Hampshire in recorded history occurred four days apart on Dec. 20, 1940, and Dec. 24, 1940, and each had the same strength. The 5.6-magnitude quakes were each centered in the Ossipee area.