UPDATED: 5:43 A.M.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck near New York City on Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, shaking buildings up and down the East Coast and surprising residents in an area that rarely experiences notable seismic activity.
The quake’s epicenter was in Tewksbury in central New Jersey, about 40 miles west of New York City. It occurred just after 10:20 a.m. ET at a depth of 2.9 miles, the USGS said.
At 5:59 p.m. there was a small but noticeable aftershock, which had a magnitude of 4.0, according to the USGS.
No major damage was reported, but engineering teams were inspecting roads and bridges.
“This is one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in the last century,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a news conference.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that no injuries had been reported but urged city residents to take cover under furniture, in a doorway or next to an interior wall if they felt aftershocks.
“New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” he said at a news conference.
People from Baltimore to Boston reported feeling rumbling and shaking, with some running outside to try to detect the source.
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so.”
“It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she said.
James Pittinger, mayor of Lebanon, New Jersey, near the quake’s epicenter, said there were no reports of injuries or significant damage but that people were unnerved.
“I was sitting in my home office when things started to fall off the walls and shelves,” Pittinger said. “It was a crazy experience.”
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy about the earthquake, and the administration will provide assistance if needed, the White House said in a statement.
At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, the Save the Children CEO abruptly stopped addressing the Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict as cameras began shuddering.
“You’re making the ground shake,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour quipped.
Flights were held at area airports in the aftermath of the earthquake but had resumed by 12:30 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Residual delays were expected.
Friday’s tremor was the largest felt in the city since a 2011 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Virginia that prompted evacuations of City Hall and other buildings and caused damage in Washington.
Earthquake magnitudes are measured on a logarithmic scale, which means the amount of energy released by a quake increases by more than 30 times for each whole number.
A 1989 earthquake that disrupted baseball’s World Series and rocked San Francisco was measured at a 6.9 magnitude, which would have made it more than 1,000 times more powerful than Friday’s quake.
Earthquakes in the eastern U.S. are felt across a far broader area because the bedrock is much older and harder, transferring seismic energy more easily, according to the USGS. The rocks in the western U.S. are younger and contain more faults that absorb earthquake energy.
(This story has been refiled to correct the time of aftershock to 5:59 p.m. ET in paragraph 3)
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, N.J., Julia Harte and Jonathan Allen in New York, Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico, and David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Additional reporting by Devika Nair, Ismail Shakil and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
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UPDATED 10:42 A.M.
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck near New York City on Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, shaking buildings and surprising residents in an area that rarely experiences notable seismic activity but apparently causing no major damage.
The quake’s epicenter was near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, and occurred just after 10:20 a.m. ET (1420 GMT) at a depth of 4.7 kilometers (2.9 miles), the USGS said.
People reported feeling tremors from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts. A New York City Police Department spokesperson said it had not received any reports of damages.
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so.”
“It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she said.
At the United Nations in midtown Manhattan, the Save the Children CEO abruptly stopped addressing the Security Council on the Israel-Gaza conflict as cameras began shuddering.
“You’re making the ground shake,” Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour quipped.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told airlines they can expect flights to be held for New York City airports until noon because of the earthquake and delays of 30-45 minutes. Some flights bound for New York diverted to other airports, according to the tracking website FlightAware.
“Air traffic operations are resuming as quickly as possible,” the FAA said.
The busy Holland Tunnel, one of three major Hudson River crossings between New York City and New Jersey, will be temporarily closed for inspection, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
The governors of New York and New Jersey posted on social media platform X that they were mounting emergency responses. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been briefed, and there were no immediate reports of “major impacts,” his office said on X.
Friday’s tremor reminded some residents of the 2011 5.8-magnitude earthquake in Virginia that prompted evacuations in New York City, including City Hall, and caused damage in Washington.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, N.J., Julia Harte in New York, and David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Additional reporting by Devika Nair, Ismail Shakil and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
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UPDATED 9:56 A.M.
(Reuters) -A 4.7-magnitude earthquake struck the New York City region on Friday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, shaking buildings and surprising residents in an area that rarely experiences notable seismic activity.
The quake’s epicenter was near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, the USGS said. No damage was immediately reported.
The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre initially measured the quake at 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale.
The earthquake was felt across the region, including in New York City, New Jersey, northern Pennsylvania and western Connecticut, according to Reuters journalists and social media.
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old resident in the Bronx borough of New York, said the quake felt “like a violent rumble that lasted about 30 seconds or so.”
“It was kind of like being in a drum circle, that vibration,” she said.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru and Joseph Ax in Princeton, N.J.; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Berkrot)
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(Reuters) – An earthquake of magnitude 5.5 struck New York and New Jersey, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre said on Friday.
The quake was at a depth of 6.21 miles, EMSC said.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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