New York
CNN
—
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake rattled buildings across parts of the Northeast Friday morning, according to the US Geological Survey, with tremors felt from Washington, DC to New York City to Maine.
It was the third largest earthquake recorded in the area in the last five decades and the strongest in New Jersey in more than 240 years, the USGS said. The rare quake was felt by millions of people across hundreds of miles, disrupting work and school life and jolting nerves momentarily before an early spring day seemed to return to normal.
In a region unaccustomed to earthquakes, stunned residents across large swaths of the Northeast described initially thinking of a passing tractor trailer or freight train before realizing it was something more. With authorities reporting little or no damage, and minimal travel disruptions, people soon resumed their everyday lives.
“At first I thought it was a big truck driving down a nearby road or the oil burner shaking inside my house,” said Jeanne Evola, who described her whole house shaking in Franklin Square on Long Island.
She ran outside as the quake intensified. She found her neighbors describing the same rattling, realizing they had experienced an earthquake in a suburb about 20 miles east of New York City.
The New York Police Department said there were no damages or injuries reported.
“New Yorkers should go about their normal day,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said at a news briefing later Friday.
There have been at least 18 aftershocks since the quake, including a 4.0 magnitude recorded southwest of Gladstone, 20 minutes from the epicenter, at 5:59 p.m., the USGS said Friday night. There is a 74% chance of magnitude 3 and above aftershocks happening within the next week, and just 1% chance of aftershocks magnitude 5 and stronger, the USGS estimates in its aftershock forecast.
Brittainy Newman/AP
New York City Mayor Eric Adams urged New Yorkers to “go about their normal day.”
USGS said the initial earthquake occurred at 10:23 a.m. The New York City Fire Department said the department received reports of shaking buildings about 10:30 a.m.
“We are responding to calls and evaluating structural stability,” the department said in a statement. “There are no major incidents at this time.”
In some parts of the New York City area, startled residents spilled out from tenements and row houses onto the sidewalks in front of their buildings in the minutes after the shaking stopped.
“Everything started vibrating then I felt the building shake,” said David Rodriguez, a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey. “I thought it was a large truck outside until everything started swaying. But it had that sound of something swaying from side to side.”
The X account for the Empire State Building posted: “I AM FINE.”
Long after the quake subsided, residents were startled anew by loud emergency alerts on their mobile phones. At 11:46 a.m. came another alert, this one warning of potential aftershocks. Addressing the delay, a city emergency management official called an earthquake “a no notice event” and said authorities had to confirm the information they were receiving.
“New Yorkers are not…
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