Caption,
The tremor was felt along much of the northeast coast of the United States around 10:20 local time.
Article information
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- Scroll, BBC News World
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April 5, 2024
An unusual 4.8 magnitude tremor was felt in and around New York this Friday. It is the largest in 40 years.
The earthquake shook buildings and skyscrapers on the northeast coast of the United States at 10:23 local time (14:23 GMT).
A UN Security Council meeting on Gaza at its headquarters in New York was temporarily suspended due to the tremor.
“Is that an earthquake?” said the representative of the NGO Save the Children, Janti Soeripto, who was speaking at the time.
No serious consequences of the phenomenon were known.
New Yorkers are used to fierce weather and big storms, but they are not as accustomed to the movements of tectonic plates.
On February 6 of last year, a 3.8 magnitude earthquake occurred in Buffalo, New York state, but one of the current magnitude had not occurred in the area for 40 years.
That earthquake, in 1983, shook residents near the town of Newcomb, in upstate New York, with a magnitude of 5.1.
Friday’s shaking was felt in several major cities, including Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
It was centered near Lebanon, New Jersey, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That’s about 40 miles west of New York City.
New York Mayor Eric Adams said New Yorkers should go about their normal day.
“First responders are working to ensure the city is safe and at this time, we do not have any reports of any major impacts or injuries,” he said.
“I encourage all New Yorkers to take care of their loved ones and, if you feel an aftershock, drop to the ground, cover your head and neck, and take cover under solid furniture, next to an interior wall, or in a door,” he added.
The mayor reported that “critical infrastructure inspections” were being carried out.
“As if a truck had crashed into my house”
The shaking lasted between 20 and 30 seconds.
Sally Osman at first thought the shaking at her house in Somerset, New Jersey, was just a strong wind.
“We had bad weather early, so I thought it was just a wind that was picking up really strong,” he said.
But then Osman felt something stronger, a sudden tremor that shook the top floor of his house.
“I thought a truck had crashed into my house,” he said. But when the shaking didn’t stop, he put two and two together. She gathered her daughters together and stood under a door frame for safety.
“It was pretty intense,” he said. “I don’t even know how long it lasted, but it seemed like forever.”
Play video, “Watch: Ornaments fly from shelves in US earthquake”, Duración 0,1200:12Título del video,
New Jersey: Ornaments fly off shelves during quake
“Sitting in our New York offices, a colleague and I instantly felt the earthquake here on the 18th floor of lower Manhattan, as if our desks and the building itself were swaying,” said BBC reporter Nada Tawfik.
“I’m in Brooklyn, where my apartment shook like a freight train was rumbling underneath. Some jars fell from my kitchen shelf to the floor, but there was no serious damage,” said BBC journalist Brandon Livesay.
“It was like being in a drum circle.”
New Yorker Jane Coxwell told the BBC she felt a “rattle” like a train passing while she was in a building in lower Manhattan.
“Living in New York I’ve gotten used to the rattling noise of the subway. That’s what I thought it was,” he said.
“Then I realized I was on the ninth floor. It was probably a little unstable. It felt like a rattling [sacudiendo] your body, like a passing train.”
Buildings shook in the Brooklyn and Bronx boroughs of the city, causing closets, doors and other belongings in homes to shake.
Charita Walcott, a 38-year-old Bronx resident, said the earthquake felt “like a violent bang that lasted about 30 seconds or so.”
“It was like being in a drum circle, that kind of vibe,” he added.
Caption,
Tectonic plate movements on the US East Coast are rare.
“I was lying in my bed and my entire apartment building started shaking. I started to get alarmed,” another New York resident told CBS, the BBC’s American partner.
Several of New York’s airports suspended operations due to the earthquake.
Both John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Airport in New Jersey kept planes on the ground.
Delays were also reported at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Around 1:00 p.m. local time, flights resumed, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.
Reactivation of old faults
The East Coast and New York City experience earthquakes, although they are rare.
Jessica Jobe of the US Geological Survey said the quake may have occurred on an ancient fault that has “reactivated.”
“Although there are no known active faults in the area, there are dozens of older inactive faults that formed millions of years ago,” he said in a press briefing.
“And under the current stresses of shifting tectonic plates, those faults can reactivate intermittently,” he added.
image source, Reuters
Caption,
Several of New York’s airports suspended operations due to the earthquake.
According to Jobe, earthquakes “can occur anywhere and at any time.”
New York has recorded only three magnitude 5 earthquakes since the 18th century: two occurred in the 18th century and one in the 19th century, he added.
In 1884 a magnitude 5.0 earthquake was measured in New York City.
In 2011, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake shook Virginia, the entire East Coast, and forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate buildings in New York, Washington, DC, and other cities.
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