Quake itself is unusually large for that area, I'm sure there has been a 7+ before but not in the last 9 years.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 52260488 You aren't wrong about it being unusual. If they had of left it at 7.4, it would have been the largest quake in that area since 1900. The area was from New York to past the south tip of S. America. I went back to 1900 and this is all I found:
7.1 North of Ascension Island
2016-08-29 04:29:57 (UTC)
10.0 km
7.0 Southern Mid-Atlantic Ridge
2015-06-17 12:51:32 (UTC)
10.0 km
7.0 northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge
1996-06-02 02:52:09 (UTC)
10.0 km
7.0 central Mid-Atlantic Ridge
1994-03-14 04:30:15 (UTC)
10.0 km
7.1 central Mid-Atlantic Ridge
1984-11-01 04:48:50 (UTC)
10.0 km
7.0 north of Ascension Island
1966-10-19 08:01:34 (UTC)
15.0 km
7.3 - northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1962-03-17 20:47:34 (UTC) - 10.0 km
7.2 - central Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1942-11-28 10:38:47 (UTC) - 10.0 km
7.1 - northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1929-02-22 20:41:51 (UTC) - 10.0 km
7.1 - central Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1929-02-02 00:00:25 (UTC) - 10.0 km
7.2 - northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1925-10-13 17:40:38 (UTC) - 10.0 km
7.1 - northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1918-12-02 09:47:34 (UTC)- 10.0 km
7.3 - central Mid-Atlantic Ridge - 1918-05-20 14:36:07 (UTC) - 15.0km
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link to earthquake.usgs.gov]