New Jersey earthquake felt in NYC, Philadelphia and beyond
Tri-state earthquake: What happened and what did it feel like?
This 4.8 earthquake reverberated throughout the entire tri-state area and was felt as far away as Maryland and Massachusetts, according to witness reports. USGS reported "moderate" intensity near the epicenter, with light and weak shaking reported regionally.
A preliminary 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Lebanon, New Jersey, Friday, shaking the ground from New York City to Philadelphia and beyond.
The USGS said the quake originated near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, around 10:30 a.m. ET. It struck about 45 miles west of New York City and 50 miles north of Philadelphia.
Aftershocks were reported a few hours later at 6 p.m. ET in New York City, according to FOX 5 NY.
A 2.0-magnitude aftershock was recorded near Bedminster, New Jersey, an hour after the initial quake. USGS figures showed the quake could have been felt by more than 42 million people.
The earthquake severely damaged three multifamily homes in Newark, New Jersey, displacing nearly 30 residents.
Residents and police gather outside of homes that were structurally damaged and had to be evacuated after New York City and parts of New Jersey experienced a 4.8 magnitude earthquake on April 05, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Ge
Traffic snarled on roads and rails for runway, bridge, and tunnel inspections. The FAA said the quake temporarily impacted airport operations in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Watch: Earthquake captured on cameras in New Jersey, Pennsylvania
A home security camera captured the moment a 4.8-magnitude earthquake rattled New Jersey on Friday morning, April 5, 2024. A Pennsylvania resident also filmed the moment he realized an earthquake was hitting the area.(Credit: Jeremy Godwin/@jergo via Storyful, Richard Snyder via Storyful)
The shaking interrupted an emergency U.N. Security Council session in New York, where the chief executive of Save The Children, Janti Soeripto, was briefing on the threat of famine in Gaza and the Israeli drone strikes that killed aid workers there.
"Is it an earthquake?" Soeripto wondered aloud, then asked if it was all right to go ahead. She did, but soon diplomats’ phones blared with earthquake alerts.
RELATED: New Jersey earthquake shown on coffee shop Nest cam: 'Am I gonna die?'
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said there were no reports of injuries – infrastructure teams have been sent to check major bridges and other structures for damage.
4.8 magnitude earthquake hits NJ, NYC, Philly
An earthquake shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey said, with residents reporting they felt rumbling across the Eastern Seaboard. The agency reported a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Lebanon, New Jersey.
Residents in the Northeast say they felt shaking for several seconds, likening it to when the washing machine is off balance in your home, "but way more intense."
In this illustration, a phone shows an Emergency Alert message on April 5, 2024, warning of an earthquake in New York. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Earthquakes of this magnitude are rare on the East Coast because the East Coast does not lie on the boundary of tectonic plates, FOX 5 New York reports. The biggest Eastern quakes usually occur along the mid-Atlantic Ridge, which extends through Iceland and the Atlantic Ocean.
Quakes on the East Coast can still pack a punch, as its rocks are better than their western counterparts at spreading earthquake energy across long distances.
According to the FOX 29 weather team, the last time the Northeast saw an earthquake of this size was 2011, and it was felt "up and down the East Coast." That earthquake was a magnitude 5.8, the strongest quake to hit the East Coast since World War II. The epicenter was in Virginia.
That earthquake left cracks in the Washington Monument and forced the evacuation of the White House and Capitol.
The scale used to determine the severity of earthquakes goes up to 10, putting Friday's earthquake about halfway on the scale. But there's a caveat: A 4.0 is 10 times bigger than a 3.0.
"The higher the number, the more energy coming out," FOX 29 explains. "We’re about halfway on the scale: the higher you go, the more shaking and more dramatic you get. There’s very big jumps."
FOX 5 New York, FOX 29 Philadelphia and The Associated Press contributed to this report.