An earthquake centered near New York City shakes much of the northeast

NEW YORK (AP) — An earthquake centered between New York and Philadelphia shook skyscrapers and suburbs in the northeastern United States for several seconds on Friday morning, without causing serious damage but startling millions of people in a region unaccustomed to such tremors.

The USGS reported an earthquake at 10:23 a.m. with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, with its epicenter near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, or about 45 miles (72 km) west of New York City and 50 miles (80 km) north of Philadelphia. . The agency's figures indicate that more than 42 million people may have felt the roar.

People from Baltimore to the Massachusetts and New Hampshire border reported feeling the ground shaking. While there were no immediate reports of major damage, officials were examining bridges and other key infrastructure. Amtrak slowed trains throughout the busy Northeast Corridor, and the Philadelphia-area commuter rail line suspended service out of what it described as an “abundance of caution.” “

The camera captured the moment the earthquake struck in New Jersey on Friday. (Source: @OBRIEN64/CNN)

She said pictures and decorative paintings fell off the wall at Christian Thompson's home in Whitehouse Station. Thompson was volunteering at the local library when the quake struck, leaving only a few traces, but she got a report from her husband about the scene at home.

“The dogs lost their minds and got so terrified and ran around,” she said.

It was “very strange and scary” for Sean Clark, who felt the quake in his 26th-floor office in midtown Manhattan. Attorney Clark initially feared an explosion or construction accident. His colleague, Finn Dusenberry, was worried that the roof or even the building would collapse.

The quake slowed travel along the East Coast, with some flights diverted and road and rail traffic disrupted for runway inspections, bridges and tunnels. Flights to Newark, New York and Baltimore airports were halted at their origins for a while while officials checked the runways for cracks. At least five flights en route to Newark were diverted and landed at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

USGS seismologist Susan Hogue reacts after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Lebanon, New Jersey on Friday. (Source: CNN)

Among the affected travelers: The Seton Hall University men's basketball team, which was stuck in Indianapolis, where it won the National Invitation Tournament on Thursday. The team said its flight to Newark was postponed due to an earthquake-related ground stop, likely delaying the homecoming ceremony scheduled for Friday afternoon at the Seton Hall campus in South Orange, New Jersey.

The Port Authority of New York and Jersey said traffic through the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City, New Jersey, and lower Manhattan was halted for about 10 minutes for inspection.

In midtown Manhattan, motorists honked through the trembling streets. Some Brooklyn residents heard a bang and felt their buildings shake. Mobile phone circuits have been overwhelmed for a while as people tried to reach their loved ones and find out what was going on.

At the United Nations headquarters in New York, the tremor interrupted Save the Children's CEO, Jante Soeripto, as she briefed an emergency Security Council session on the threat of famine in Gaza and the Israeli drone attacks that killed aid workers there.

“Is it an earthquake?” Soeripto wondered aloud, then asked if it was okay to proceed. She did so, but soon the diplomats' phones rang with earthquake alerts.

An earthquake interrupted a United Nations session in New York on Friday. (Source: United Nations/CNN)

In New York City's Astoria neighborhood, Cassondra Kurtz was giving her 14-year-old Chihuahua, Chickie, a cocoa butter massage for her dry skin. Kurtz was recording the moment on video when her apartment began shaking so violently that a large mirror hit the wall with an audible thud.

Kurtz initially assumed it was a large truck passing by. The video showed her looking around in confusion. But Chicky “wasn't completely bothered.”

Earthquakes are less common in the eastern regions of the United States than on the western edges because the East Coast does not lie on a tectonic plate boundary. The largest easterly earthquakes usually occur along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which extends across Iceland and the Atlantic Ocean.

Earthquakes that occur on the East Coast can still have a significant impact, as its rocks are better than their western counterparts at spreading earthquake energy over long distances.

“If we had an earthquake of the same magnitude in California, we probably wouldn't feel it as far away,” said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey.

The agency posted on X that the 4.8-magnitude quake is not large enough to cause damage, except for some minor impacts near the epicenter.

Robert Thorson, a professor of geosciences at the University of Connecticut, said the quake was caused by constant pressure on New Jersey's hard, brittle Earth's crust.

“It's like having a big block of ice in a vise, and you're slowly moving the vise,” he said. Eventually, you'll get some crackle on it. “

Friday's quake was felt as far away as Vermont and New Hampshire, where some residents initially thought snow was falling from their roofs or that plow trucks were passing by.

Stacy Santa Cruz, a paralegal, watched her computer screen shake in her office in Hartford, Connecticut.

“I was kind of surprised, but then I realized it was probably an earthquake,” she said, noting that she had experienced a large earthquake in her native Peru.

Earthquakes of magnitude 5 or greater struck near New York City in 1737, 1783 and 1884, the US Geological Survey said. Friday brought back memories of the August 23, 2011 earthquake that shook tens of millions of people from Georgia to Canada. With its center in Virginia, it caused cracks in the Washington Monument and shook New Yorkers before the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 5.8, and it was the strongest earthquake to hit the East Coast since World War II.

President Joe Biden said on Friday that he spoke to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy about the earthquake. The White House said the administration will provide assistance if needed to state and local officials.

As of noon, New York City had no signs of major safety or infrastructure problems due to the quake, said Mayor Eric Adams, who said he did not feel the quake himself. City Buildings Commissioner James Oddo said officials will monitor any delayed cracks or other impacts on the Big Apple's 1.1 million buildings.

Christine Thomas, an art gallery owner in Chinatown, expressed concern about the fate of the sculpture, which features five real eggs placed on a candelabra-like base. But the piece by Carlos Estevez did not break.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the quake was felt across the state, but officials had no reports of any life-threatening problems.

Solomon Byron felt this while sitting on a park bench in Manhattan's East Village.

“I was wondering where this vibration was coming from,” Byron recalls. He was especially puzzled because there were no subways running nearby.

But he did not realize there was an earthquake until he received the alert on his mobile phone.

___

Catalini reported from Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. Associated Press journalists across the country contributed to this report, including Jake Aufenhartz, Bobby Kaina Kalvan and Michael R. Sisak, Karen Matthews in New York City, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Seth Bornstein in Washington, Mark Sulforo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Susan Hay in Hartford, Connecticut, and Pat Eaton Robb in Storrs, Connecticut.

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press, Inc. all rights are save.

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