New York & New Jersey residents experienced the shock of a lifetime the morning of Friday, April 5, when a 4.8-magnitude earthquake rattled portions of the East Coast, including New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The earthquake occurred at roughly 10:20 a.m. Eastern time and had an epicenter in Tewksbury and Redington townships in Hunterdon County.
New Jersey residents reported feelings of shaking and swaying. One resident told CBS News, "I honestly thought it was just a forklift that hit something because I was on the phone with my partner at work, and he said all of a sudden the building started to shake."
Some residents as far north as Maine also felt the tremors. While residents in Virginia also reported feeling tremors. An estimated 42 million people felt the earthquake.
Friday’s earthquake caused flight delays in travel hubs such as New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Delays in New Jersey’s Newark Liberty National Airport lasted for an estimated two hours. Air traffic resumed as normal at 12:30 P.M. EST, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s post on X.
The earthquake also resulted in delays in railroad transportation. New Jersey Transit reported twenty-minute delays for all rail services in both directions.
According to the Associated Press, there have been around 20 earthquakes on the East Coast above a magnitude of 4.5 since 1950. This is compared to over 1,000 earthquakes on the West Coast during that period of time.
The last East Coast earthquake occured in Mineral Virginia in 2011, with a 5.8 magnitude.
According to the United States Geological Survey, known as the USGS, the earthquake’s epicenter was located in New Jersey, near Redington. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that New Jersey activated the State of Emergency Operations Center in response to the historic quake. The State of Emergency Operations Center was deactivated at 10 a.m. on the morning of April 6.
Governor Murphy reassured residents in a statement posted to X, saying, “We have had no reports of major damage to structures, roadways, or infrastructure as a result of yesterday’s earthquake.”
One structural casualty of the earthquake was a 264-year-old mill that ‘fed Washington’s troops’ in Redington.
Following the earthquake, New Jersey experienced 47 aftershocks. Aftershocks are the geological phenomenon wherein a series of smaller earthquakes occurs following the main shock, according to the USGS. Aftershocks help the faults ‘readjust.’ They can occur for weeks or months following the main earthquake.
The most recent aftershock in New Jersey was recorded at 8:05 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, by the Us Geological Survey.
Aftershock info: https://www.nj.com/news/2024/04/nj-earthquake-aftershock-tally-climbs-to-34-after-fridays-big-tremor-more-expected.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/earthquake-new-york-city-jfk-newark-flights-train-travel/