Rare powerful earthquake rocks New York
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook the greater New York City area on Friday morning.
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled the New York City area on Friday morning in a shocking rare occurrence.
The tremor struck around 10.23am and was felt in Manhattan and beyond.
Its epicenter was in Lebanon, New Jersey, which is about 50 miles west of Manhattan, reported the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake was the strongest in the area since 1884, per USGS.
‘We consider it to be moderate – it is capable of causing some damage,’ USGS geophysicist John Bellini told Bloomberg.
Among the most vulnerable structures are older homes that have brick faces and chimneys, he said.
The quake was reportedly felt as far as Boston, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
There were no initial reports of damage to the Fire Department of New York or the New York Police Department (NYPD), but sirens sounded.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry stated that his agency was being briefed on the situation.
‘While we do not have any reports of major impacts at this time, we’re still assessing the impact,’ wrote Daughtry on X (Twitter).
The shaking interrupted a United Nations Security Council meeting in the city, video footage shared on X (Twitter) showed.
Airports in various cities on the East Coast kept planes that were set to depart on the ground following the quake.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued ground stops for flights heading to John F Kennedy International Airport in Queens, Newark-Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Maryland.
As bridges were inspected, New Jersey Transit announced that commuters could expect delays of up to 20 minutes in both directions.
Many New Yorkers rushed to X (Twitter) to check and confirm they felt the quake. The social media site was flooded with posts.
Among them was English singer-songwriter and actress Lily Allen.
‘That was insane,’ wrote Allen, who was in Brooklyn.
Independent reporter Katie Smith said it was the ‘biggest’ earthquake she has ever felt in New York City.
‘The NYPD scanner is blowing up with reports of unstable facades now — please be careful when walking outside,’ she wrote.
Shortly after 11am, New York City residents received an emergency alert on their phones stating: ‘4.7 magnitude earthquake has occurred in the NYC area. Residents are advised to remain indoors and to call 911 in injured.’
The alert linked to a USGS webpage titled, ‘What should I do DURING an earthquake?’ It advises those indoors to stay inside, and those outside to get into open areas ‘away from buildings, power lines, chimneys, and anything else that might fall on you’.
Metro US editor experiences earthquake in New York City
On Friday morning, I had just started my shift on the news desk in Manhattan when I felt what seemed like a small earthquake.
Having grown up in Los Angeles and lived much of my life across California, where they are relatively common, it was quite a déjà vu moment – a mixture of self-reassurance that it wasn’t a big deal, and panic that quakes are ‘not supposed’ to happen in New York City.
I quickly checked X (Twitter) to confirm I wasn’t crazy. Then posted my own:
The tremor was brief but marked. The building shook slightly. I looked out the window and froze for a moment as I haven’t experienced a quake in years since moving to the Big Apple.
By the time I considered my options – duck and cover, standing in a door frame, other actions I was taught in earthquake drills in school in the Golden State – the seismic event was over.
Then my editor in London flagged a dataminr alert on the earthquake, which I said I felt, and it was back to business as usual breaking the story!
While the quake felt small to me, we reported it as ‘powerful’ as it was by no means a tiny one. A magnitude of 4.7 to 4.8 was recorded at the epicenter in Lebanon, New Jersey, and it was felt to a lesser degree in Manhattan.
As a California native, I’ve experienced many earthquakes, some small, some medium and I even vaguely remember the massive magnitude 6.7 Northridge Earthquake when my parents comforted me by telling me it was a unicorn shaking the roof of our house.
My immediate reaction this morning was thinking if there would be aftershocks, which I’ve also felt before. Most buildings in California are designed to withstand tremors since the San Andreas fault runs through the state. I wondered if New York City skyscrapers and its older structures are properly prepared in the event of another, more powerful earthquake.
New York City sent another emergency alert at 11:46am stating that ‘aftershocks may be felt’ but that New Yorkers ‘can continue usual activities’.
How common are earthquakes in New York?
Earthquakes are rare in New York City.
The New York City Hazard Mitigation Plan states: ‘Although New York City does not sit on a major fault system, like the San Andreas in California, earthquakes are possible here.
‘The likelihood that a strong earthquake will occur is moderate, but the risk is heightened by New York City’s population density, the scale of its built environment, the interdependencies of its critical infrastructure systems, the age of its infrastructure, and the high proportion of buildings that were built before seismic design provisions were adopted in City building codes in 1995.’
New York City was last jolted by a small earthquake on January 2, when a 1.7 magnitude tremor woke up Roosevelt Island residents around 5.45am.
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