4.8 magnitude earthquake shakes New York City area

An earthquake shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area Friday morning, the US Geological Survey said, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the Northeast.

The agency reported a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Lebanon, New Jersey, or about 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia.

Notable quake, preliminary info: M 4.8 – 7 km N of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey https://t.co/DuTYZ1kb4X

— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) April 5, 2024

The Fire Department of New York said there were no initial reports of damage. New York Mayor Eric Adams had been briefed on the quake, his spokesperson Fabien Levy said, adding, “While we do not have any reports of major impacts at this time, we’re still assessing the impact.”

In midtown Manhattan, the usual cacophony of traffic grew louder as motorists blared their horns on momentarily shuddering streets. Some Brooklyn residents heard a booming sound and their building shaking. In an apartment house in Manhattan’s East Village, a resident from more earthquake-prone California calmed nervous neighbors.

People in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Connecticut and other areas of the East Coast unaccustomed to earthquakes also reported feeling the ground shake.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted on X that the quake was felt throughout the state. “My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day,” Hochul said.

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit west of Manhattan and has been felt throughout New York.

My team is assessing impacts and any damage that may have occurred, and we will update the public throughout the day.

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) April 5, 2024

According to USGS, while earthquakes are uncommon but they are not unheard along the Atlantic Coast, a zone one study called a “passive-aggressive margin” because there is no active plate boundary between the Atlantic & North American plates, but there are stresses.

The shaking stirred memories of the Aug. 23, 2011, earthquake that jolted tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada. Registering magnitude 5.8, it was the strongest quake to hit the East Coast since World War II. The epicenter was in Virginia.

That earthquake left cracks in the Washington Monument, spurred the evacuation of the White House and Capitol and rattled New Yorkers three weeks before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

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