The earthquake had a magnitude of 4.8. No major damage is likely to have occurred.
An unusually strong earthquake and several aftershocks have shaken the region around the US metropolis of New York. There were initially no reports of injuries or property damage. According to the responsible US authorities, the actual quake on Friday morning (local time) had a magnitude of 4.8 and occurred at a depth of 4.7 kilometers, i.e. relatively close to the earth’s surface.
“This was one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in 100 years,” said New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. According to authorities, the epicenter was near the town of Lebanon in the US state of New Jersey, about 65 kilometers west of the city of New York. There were numerous aftershocks in the hours that followed.
Checking the infrastructure and looking for damage is taken “extremely seriously,” said Hochul. “Fortunately, we are masters of disasters here in New York. We know how to deal with it.”
A slight rumble in Manhattan
The quake was reportedly felt for about a minute in a wide radius around the epicenter and along the coast from Baltimore to Boston, around 600 kilometers further north. In Manhattan it came across as a slight rumbling noise, which nonetheless frightened many people. Dogs started barking and many unsettled people left their houses. The tremors were also clearly felt in the Brooklyn district: “The entire building shook,” said a resident in the Greenpoint district. Her neighbor said she had never been so scared.
Several airports in the affected area temporarily stopped take-off and landing to check the runways for possible damage. Tunnels and train routes were also temporarily closed for inspections. Warnings on cell phones alerted people in the region to possible aftershocks.
US President Joe Biden told reporters that he had spoken to the governor of New Jersey. He wasn’t too worried, “so everything is fine.” New York Mayor Eric Adams was also informed. “We currently have no reports of major impacts, but we are continuing to assess,” said spokesman Fabien Levy. The New York fire department and police initially had no information about any damage.
The quake was also felt at the UN headquarters in eastern Manhattan when the World Security Council was meeting to discuss the Middle East conflict. The chairwoman of the non-governmental organization Save the Children, Janti Soeripto, who was speaking, paused. “They are making the earth shake,” commented Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour.
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