A mild earthquake in New York has startled many residents, but apparently caused no damage. There was a brief stop for aircraft taking off and landing. The tremor could be felt 600 kilometers further north.
For a brief moment, an earthquake was felt in the densely populated New York metropolitan area. There are no reports of injuries or property damage.
According to the US Earthquake Observatory USGS, the morning quake had a magnitude of 4.8 and occurred at a depth of 4.7 kilometers. The epicenter was therefore near the town of Lebanon in the US state of New Jersey, about 65 kilometers west of the city of New York. Earthquakes are rare but not unusual on the US East Coast, the agency said.
“This was one of the largest earthquakes on the East Coast in 100 years,” said New York State Governor Kathy Hochul. The New York Fire Department said it had not yet received any reports of damage. New York Mayor Eric Adams had been informed of the quake, said his spokesman Fabien Levy. The consequences are still being assessed, although there have been no reports of major impacts so far.
Slight rumbling in Manhattan
According to reports, the quake was 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 the New York City district of Manhattan, it arrived as a slight rumble, but still frightened many people.
The streets there shook for a short time. Dogs started barking and many people left their houses. The tremors were also clearly felt in the Brooklyn district. Residents heard a booming noise and building shaking.
Several airports in the affected area temporarily stopped take-off and landing to check the runways for possible damage. Several tunnels and train routes were also temporarily partially closed for inspections.
Empire State Building: “I’m fine”
Warnings on cell phones informed people in the region and made them aware of the possibility of aftershocks. Numerous schools and kindergartens immediately informed parents that everything was fine. “The only thing that fell was a box of tissues,” said one elementary school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
The quake was also felt at the UN headquarters in eastern Manhattan when the Security Council was meeting to discuss the conflict in the Middle East. The operators of the famous Empire State Building had themselves commenting on the skyscraper via the online portal